Families given 10 days to vacate diamond field

FORTY families from the Chiadzwa diamond fields and Mukwada villages in
Manicaland have been given a 10-day notice to leave their homes and make way
for Mbada Diamonds without compensation.
The villagers were given the notice on Wednesday by the District
Administrator's office and are expected to relocate to Arda Transau by
September 4.
Mutare West MP Shua Mudiwa yesterday confirmed the eviction.
"I have received a report of the relocation. Right now I cannot give you
much detail because I am at a Copac meeting. I will get to the bottom of
it," he said.
Mudiwa said the villagers were promised groceries and school fees for the
next term by Mbada Diamonds.
"There was no written agreement, it was just verbal. They were told that if
anyone wanted further explanations they should go to the provincial or
district administrator or the governor."
Manicaland provincial governor, Christopher Mushowe, is on record as saying
the villagers would only be compensated after the relocations.
Acting President of the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT), an
organisation that represents Chiadzwa villagers, Malvern Mudiwa, told
Zimbabwe Independent that villagers from Chiadzwa and Mukwada were not happy
with the way the relocation was being handled by the mining companies and
the government.
Mudiwa said: "The villagers are angry that the government is not consulting
them in these relocations. This time 22 villagers from Chiadzwa ward and 22
from Mukwada ward are being relocated by Mbada (Diamonds). Last Saturday
they were told that they should gather for a meeting at Zengeni shops for an
explanation but when they arrived for the meeting there was a bus waiting to
ferry them to Arda Transau so that they can have a look at the temporary
structures set up for them there."
"No compensation issues were discussed despite people requesting for
concrete written compensation agreements with the mining companies. They
also want to benefit from the diamonds and not be dumped on some useless
land. They want employment guaranteed for their children since they were
affected by the relocation."
CCDT also claimed that some villagers were complaining about the way they
were being treated by Chinese company Anjin in the area when they went to
seek employment.
Shamiso Mtisi of Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (ZELA) said the
government and mining companies should seriously consider providing
villagers with adequate shelter, compensation, social services and give them
adequate notice before they are moved.
"We are not happy with the issue of this notice. There is inadequate time in
their notices and the compensation issues will not have been agreed on. It
doesn't make sense. We are not in disagreement about the relocation but the
manner in which it is done."
"We are trying to engage the relevant government departments to respect the
rights of the people of Chiadzwa but it is very difficult," he said.
Mbada Diamonds chairman Robert Mhlanga could not be reached for comment.
However, earlier this month the Independent reported that families relocated
from Chiadzwa were dumped at an abandoned farmhouse where a number of
families affected by the relocation were living in disused tobacco barns.

Wongai Zhangazha