Villagers demand compensation

THE Marange community has engaged the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to come up with a sustainable solution to the plight of villagers who gave up their farming land to pave way for diamond mining activities.

In an interview yesterday, chairman of the Marange Development Trust (MDT) Mr Malvern Mudiwa said there were some families that had not been relocated to Arda Transau Estate but whose fields were now part of the diamond field.

“There are people who have not been resettled but their fields are inside the mining area so they cannot conduct any farming activities.

“These people have no way of earning a living. Before ZCDC took over the mining operations, Mbada Diamonds used to offer food handouts to the villagers but we are saying this is not sustainable. So we have engaged ZCDC to come up with a lasting solution to accord such families a decent livelihood,” he said.

“We would rather come up with projects that can be done by everyone in the community including those who were affected by the diamond mining to avoid conflict.”

Mr Mudiwa said there were many dams in the community, which could be de-silted to enable people to embark on projects such as fish farming and gardening.

“We also need to have boreholes closer to the people so that they will not have to travel long distances to water sources,” he said.

Mr Mudiwa said ZCDC had signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month to facilitate negotiations on behalf of the villagers.

The MoU also covers areas such as freedom of movement, employment creation, infrastructure development, environmental impact awareness as well as the relocation of villagers.

ZCDC public relations and community development manager, Mr Sugar Chagonda, confirmed the development saying the MoU was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility and was engaging communities surrounding the mining area. — Herald Reporter.