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Marange's silent war of stones
THE ruins
of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe which lie in Masvingo remain one
of the country’s treasures. Built of stone but without mortar,
the ruins tell a story of a once rich and glorious past.
So when the new nation was christened with a new name, Zimbabwe, in 1980, it was a statement of aspiration to an illustrious civilisation; a statement of dreams to engineer and reconstruct a ‘house of stone’.
Few imagined at the time, however, that barely thirty years later, the country itself would be a mirror image of the Zimbabwe Ruins – political and economic ruins that conjure only beautiful memories.
But for the people of the eastern parts of the country, the SaManyika, few would have imagined that the notion of a ‘house of stone’ would take an entirely different and ominous meaning meaning. Because here, in this beautiful land of rolling hills and mountains; the land of the affable SaManyika, there is a new, most beautiful stone, which carries on its sparkling surface, some very hideous baggage, a load that may be far too heavy to carry.
Little known by much of the world, a gory story of avarice, corruption and blood is unfolding in these parts.
It is a far cry from the innocence that has characterised this area for a long time. For years, the one feature for which Marange was renowned was its flock of the faithful whose song and prayer always had an unmistakable presence and resonance across the country. Mapositori ekwaMarange (the Apostles of Marange) remain faithful servants of the Word. But, perhaps, not even they could have foreseen the mosaic of wealth and depravity that would befall their lands.
It’s been just over a couple of years now since the existence of the beautiful stone in Marange became public knowledge. There are those who say a diamond is a woman’s best friend. Others have gone further to say that diamonds are forever.
But for the girls and women of Marange, violated and raped in the lawless climate as they are caught up in the diamond rush, this stone has taken a more sinister meaning that far outweighs the apparent signification of wealth. For the villagers who have been displaced; made strangers in their own homes, the beauty of the stone would seem like a curse.
There is something very ugly about these beautiful treasures. As moths are drawn to candlelight, so have all manner of characters been attracted to Chiadzwa Village in Marange all in pursuit of the good stone.
I am told they have come from far and wide – from many parts of the country. They have also found a new home in the cooler climes of the beautiful Eastern Highlands, all the way from Lebanon, Israel, South Africa, Belgium, Mozambique, etc. Suddenly, they all love Marange.
I am told that Mutare’s Chikanga suburb is awash with the latest models from the production line at Daimler AG and Bavarian Motor Works (BMW). They say Mutare is the new City of Diamonds, the city with the sparkle. It is the place to be for the hunters of fortune.
The diamond is a bewitching stone. It pleases the eye and the heart. From royalty to paupers, everyone loves the stone. It is part of the collection which they call ‘bling-bling’ in modern parlance.
Young men wear heavy chains of gold and diamond around their necks and sing about love. They also sing about guns and power, oblivious of the origins of the stones they so covet.
But the diamond also pleases the pocket, which, for a people suffering untold hardships, must be a great relief. But as we have seen in many parts of Africa, diamonds can also be a plague; a cancer that ravages the society, if not properly managed. And that is why the apparent lawlessness and chaos surrounding the Marange’s beautiful stone is worrying.
Last week, I wrote in these pages about the possibilities of civil conflict in Zimbabwe and when I read feedback from kind readers, it dawned on me that in fact the beautiful stone of Marange could easily become a catalyst for implosion.
Famous Zimbabwean writer, Chenjerai Hove, wrote last year in an article entitled, ‘Chiadzwa, a community devoured by diamonds’, in which he lamented the corruption of an innocent land that he had visited a decade before. At the time, few took notice and media coverage has been sporadic. It is a story that has been dwarfed by the seemingly endless political soap opera in Harare. Yet, this circumstance provides the most worrying point as Zimbabwe slides further into the quagmire.
There are real fears that the situation in Marange’s diamond fields is being grossly underestimated by all politicians. I am told there are increasing concerns about injurious and fatal clashes between the treasure hunters. Last week, it was reported that five people had been killed in a helicopter raid by the authories.
It is said many more are dying because of the clashes. The clashes are not just between the diggers, they also involve the men in uniform deployed there ostensibly to ‘look after’ the diamonds. Those who have been asked to guard demand bribes – ‘protection fees’, they call them. Everyone is digging in Chiadzwa – teachers, pupils, villagers, the uniformed men, etc; they are all digging for the stone. If they are not digging, they are buying or selling.
Many hands are dirty, bloody even. There are big and small politicians; there are men with guns, others with a lot of money and many more impecunious villagers who do the digging. Some media reports say that schools have become deserted as teachers and pupils seek to eke out a living in the diamond fields.
All this is a result of lawlessness. That is what happens when a country waves goodbye to the rule of law. The government spilt the milk a few years ago when it allowed lawlessness to decide the land reform exercise. Then we had the new breed of ‘New Farmers’. Today, the same lawlessness defines the activities in Marange. We have a new breed of ‘New Miners’. It is just a continuation of the same old and tragic theme.
Not even the locals of Marange who should benefit most are getting just rewards. Instead, they have been displaced and used. The company that owns legal title to the claims, African Consolidated Resources plc, founded in Zimbabwe and listed on the London Stock Exchange, was reportedly evicted unlawfully from Marange - this is a country which hopes to attract foreign investment; a country where property rights are decided by the fist, not by the law.
The big diamond companies may have declared a few years ago that they would not deal in illegally mined diamonds, the so-called ‘blood diamonds’, but the reality is that someone somewhere up there is buying the Marange diamonds. And some celebrity somewhere is carrying them around their ample neck.
I write about Marange’s stones because anybody who cares to follow the pattern of conflict in Africa knows that bitter conflicts on the beleaguered continent have centred on these stones. From Sierra Leonne, Liberia and the DRC, diamonds have been at the centre of and the fuel that drives civil conflict. The current tragic events in Eastern DRC are most telling.
Other than South Africa and Botswana, where the government has managed to create a mutually beneficial commercial partnership with large diamond merchant De Beers, most places in Africa where diamonds have been discovered in recent times have generally experienced civil war and anarchy. Sierra Leonne, Liberia and the DRC are prominent examples, where the issue of ‘blood diamonds’ has been contentious for many years. The terrible scenario was immortalised in the Hollywood film, the appropriately entitled, ‘Blood Diamond’.
The horrific scenes in that film may not be far off given the rush and lawlessness in Marange. The battles start at a small scale but they soon escalate, fuelled by the wealth that diamonds bring. Today, Zimbabwe is poor and tired but it is a house sitting on beautiful stones, just as it rests of fertile land. These resources, however, have become dormant or fuel for chaos. Imagine the foreign currency that a few diamonds would bring to Zimbabwe? Imagine what the earnings for the nation could do for the hospitals, roads, schools and the infrastructure across the country? Imagine the sparkle the stones could give to the whole nation?
But no. These stones are for the few who have power. If ever there was an instance of poor management of resources, and we know that land is a prime example, but surely the handling of the beautiful stone of Marange is right up there. We complain in Africa that Europeans and Americans exploit us but sometimes I cannot help thinking that if they do, perhaps, we make it far too easy for them. The beautiful stone of Marange could well become the ugliest curse on the nation.
I do not know if the famous Mapositori ekwaMarange (the Apostles of Marange) are still there. Perhaps they, too, have been lured to the diamond fields. But if they are, and if they still sing as beautifully as they used to, they must sing even louder; and if they still pray like they used to, they must pray even louder, because this land now requires the Hand that wrote it all. Otherwise the country could be brought down very easily by the beautiful stone on which it sits.
Alex Magaisa
is based at Kent Law School, The University of Kent. He can be contacted
at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
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