WORLDWIDE, the existence of natural resources, particularly precious minerals, has triggered fierce contestations that have condemned marginalised communities to deeper poverty while the powerful line their pockets.
A brief look at Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Sierra Leone demonstrates how entire nations have been reduced to mounds of rubble by violent battles over the control of diamonds.
Between 1998 and 2003, the DRC, endowed with vast reserves of coltan, cobalt, diamonds, and gold, plunged into an all-out conflict often described as “Africa’s Third World War”, as armed groups vied for control of its mineral wealth.
Despite its immense natural riches, the DRC remains one of the world’s five poorest countries. The devastating war, which left millions dead or injured, also triggered mass displacements. Citizens were left exposed to extreme poverty, disease, and unimaginable suffering. According to Amnesty International, as of April 2024, 7,3 million people had been displaced by this ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Zimbabweans, too, are no strangers to the so-called “resource curse” — a paradox described by various scholars in which resource-rich countries often remain ensnared in cycles of extreme poverty and economic stagnation, relying heavily on foreign aid to stay afloat.
At home, the discovery of vast alluvial diamond reserves in Manicaland’s Chiadzwa region in 2006 attracted an estimated 35 000 illegal miners to the area.
The government’s heavy-handed crackdown led to numerous deaths amid disturbing allegations of human rights abuses.
Shocking plunder escalated. Members of the ruling party, their cronies, foreign firms, and powerful international syndicates scoured the earth for precious stones while Chiadzwa remained an outpost of underdevelopment — ironically sitting atop high-quality diamonds.
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Well-intentioned, but poorly-executed initiatives to channel diamond revenues into community development failed to lift thousands out of poverty.
Zimbabwe’s late strongman, Robert Mugabe, once claimed the country had lost a staggering US$15 billion in undeclared diamond revenue.
This prompted authorities to abruptly terminate operations of the seven companies mining in the Chiadzwa area of Manicaland province.
In 2015, all concessions were transferred to the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC). Later, Anjin Investments, a firm part-owned by Chinese investors and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, was permitted to operate.
Yet, Manicaland’s residents remain dissatisfied. Despite running corporate social responsibility programmes, ZCDC and Anjin have failed to fulfil their commitments to allocate a portion of their annual revenue to the Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust. This is unacceptable. Mineral resources are finite. What do the people of Chiadzwa have to show for the diamonds when they continue to wallow in squalor? Zimbabwe must avoid the resource curse.
