Diamond ‘discovery’ causes panic

◆ really based on fact. No one said there are diamonds already,” said Cde Zindi.

She added that she would not want to see villagers in the area being displaced owing to the intended mining operations.

“As the MP for the area, it is not my wish that people be displaced. Where do we put them? Where do we get the land to place them? After all there are socio- economic aspects connected to their lives in that area. I would advocate for mining operations that do not result in displacement of people,” she said.

In a separate interview, Mutasa Rural District Council chief executive Mr George Bandure said ZCDC were above board in consulting villagers before undertaking any mining operations in the area.

“If anything is discovered in any given area, at law they are required to consult the people living in the given area and that is what ZCDC officials did. That then forms the basis of the Environmental Impact Assessment exercise. In this case we as the local authority were informed of the developments.

“The term used ‘suspect’ warrants further investigations to be done to establish whether there are diamond deposits. It is clear that there are communities that will be affected negatively and positively, if indeed the diamond deposits are there. There are employment opportunities as well as the investment portfolio of Mutasa Rural District Council increases but it must be remembered that this is an area where there are residential properties, small scale to medium commercial or industrial and social institutions in place. It automatically means that if the diamond deposits are established some people or institutions will be moved.

“Our hope is that a balance will be struck between the interests of the mining company and the interests of the people. We are aware that the issue of displacement is a hot potato but both parties have to meet halfway for the sake of development,” said Mr Bandure.

Repeated efforts to get a comment from ZCDC were fruitless at the time of going to print as the company’s Public Relations Executive Mr Brian Mangwende requested questions in writing a week ago but until Wednesday afternoon no response was issued.

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