Paul Nyathi|GOVERNMENT has come out screaming at the United States of America after it barred local diamonds from entering Washington on grounds that they were produced through forced labour.
The diamonds were denied entry on Monday.
The US Embassy Harare sent a tweet yesterday saying: “US Customs & Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order for artisanal rough cut diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields on Oct. 1, 2019 due to evidence of forced labour. US law prohibits importation of goods made with forced labour.”
In 2001 diamonds were first discovered in the Marange area in Eastern Zimbabwe. Since then these diamond fields have been beset by conflict, bloodshed, forced labor and government crackdowns. According to one industry expert the Marange diamond area is the richest diamond field ever seen. Not only do the local communities see very little of the benefits of this natural resource on their land, they suffer immeasurably as a result.
But Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana told state media last night that Government was dismayed by the US action which amounted to new sanctions on Zimbabwe’s diamond industry.
He pointed out that Zimbabwe had not officially had a report on the alleged systematic forced labour, which is illegal under the country’s laws.
Mining in Marange began in 2006. Initially the government allowed anybody to prospect in the area. Then it started clamping down. Recognizing the mines as an important revenue opportunity, the Zanu PF-controlled army invaded the mines in October 2008, massacring over 200 miners in the process.
Helicopters swooped down over illegal miners, shooting live ammunition and teargas. 800 soldiers were sent in to secure the area. Illegal miners were forced to dig mass graves for their murdered comrades. The report says:
A local headman told international rights organisation, Human Rights Watch that in the three weeks of the military operation, Chiadzwa resembled “a war zone in which soldiers killed people like flies.” Another headman was forced to bury five bodies of miners; all five bodies had what appeared to be bullet wounds. None of the bodies were identifiable.
With the army in control of the area, the violence has continued even today and illegal mining — which the police and military were ostensibly supposed to shut down — has continued to flourish, this time in the hands of soldiers and security guards from ZMDC.
The army is forcing at least 300 children to work without pay in the mines. A woman forced to work on the mines told an HRW researcher: “We worked together with about 30 children of ages between 10 and 17 years. The children worked the same 11 hours each day as adults did. The soldiers had a duty roster for all villagers in Chiadzwa to take turns to work in the fields, irrespective of age.” The woman explained how men did the digging, while children and women carried the ore, then sieved it before sorting the diamonds. The women and children were forced to work without breaks, with soldiers not even providing food and water, and beating those working too slowly.
Soldiers and ZMDC guards have also been plundering impoverished villages, stealing items like cellphones, maize and blankets.
Said Mr Mangwana: “The Government of Zimbabwe is baffled by the decision of the United States of America to issue a so-called Withhold Release Order for roug labour.”
“This is a regrettable development because the reason the US authorities are citing, namely that Zimbabwean diamonds are being produced under forced labour, is a blatant and shameless lie that will surprise even cynics amongst us.
“Zimbabwe’s Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labour. We also amended the Labour Act in 2015 to ensure that it is aligned with the Constitution. As a Government we have a very strong revulsion towards any form of slavery or servitude,” said Mr Mangwana.
He added they have not received reports of forced labour and “definitely (not) of a systematic nature” that might arouse international sanction.
“Apparently, invoking the repulsive prospect of alleged forced labour is a new nomenclature for seeking to bar Zimbabwe’s diamonds from the international market after previous attempts to label Zimbabwean diamonds as blood diamonds failed,” said Mr Mangwana.
Mr Mangwana said there was no doubt that the latest move by the US constitutes “a grave and serious attack on Zimbabwe’s interests and is no less a manifestation of undeclared sanctions that have hurt the economy”.
“We will engage the US authorities on this while we continue with our re-engagement efforts as part of President Mnangagwa’s continuous foreign policy thrust of locating Zimbabwe within the global family of nations,” he said.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza told state media last night that they have just completed the “Decent Work Programme strategy and one of our objectives is to promote the dignity and rights of workers in the work place”.