BULAWAYO – ZANU PF politburo member and former Mayor of Bulawayo Joshua Malinga on Thursday appeared in a Bulawayo magistrate court facing charges of undermining the authority of the police.
The 65-year-old politician and businessman was remanded on US$50 bail to July 31.
He was not formally charged with contravening Section 177 (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act when he briefly appeared before magistrate Sithembiso Ncube.
His lawyer, Job Sibanda of Job Sibanda and Associates Legal Practitioners told the court that there was no need to put the charge to his client, as he was aware of it.
He added that his client was coming from home and had no complaints against the police.The case had to be moved from Court Two on the first floor of Tredgold Building to Court Seven on the ground floor because Malinga moves with the aid of a wheelchair.
Clad in a gray suit, Malinga listened carefully as his lawyer addressed the court and relatives wheeled him out of the courtroom after the remand with a prison officer holding the court record so that they could pay bail before he would be allowed to go home.
Prosecutor Evans Mungoni told the court that on February 11 this year, at around 10am, constable Raphael Somerayi was on duty manning the High Court building reception and was dressed in police uniform.
Malinga parked his vehicle at the corner of 8th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street with its tail allegedly encroaching into the road thereby blocking other cars.Somerayi approached Malinga and spoke to him in Shona requesting him to park properly.
The state is alleging that Malinga responded by insulting the complainant in English saying; “You are stupid, idiot officer speaking Shona in Matabeleland”. The police officer requested to see his drivers’ licence but Malinga allegedly refused with it saying there was no law that forces him to carry it on his person.
Malinga allegedly threatened to put the police officer in “hot soup” for interrupting him.The officer requested him to accompany him to Tredgold Building to see his superiors if he (Malinga) was offended by his use of the Shona language.
At the Tredgold Court section, Assistant Inspector Tendekayi Murehwa, who is also a public prosecutor, attended to Somerayi and Malinga. The state alleges that Malinga continued with foul words and said, “He is a stupid, idiot police officer who speaks Shona in Matabeleland”.
Matebeleland refers to Zimbabwe’s southwestern provinces dominated by Ndebele-speaking ethnic groups while Shona is spoken by the country’s majority ethnic group.
– ZimOnline
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Teachers take demos to PM, Mugabe’s offices
HARARE – The militant Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) yesterday declared it would take its demonstrations over salary increments to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s offices after an attempt by protesting members to meet Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro failed on Monday.
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou told ZimOnline that they felt Mugabe, a former teacher, would understand their grievances more than any other person in government but they would have to approach the PM before staging demonstrations at the veteran leader’s offices.
Zhou said about 200 teachers demonstrated in Harare on Monday under police escort.“We went to the Public Service Commission but because they had already heard that we were coming they all disappeared leaving only secretaries manning offices,” said Zhou, adding that the protesting teachers were insulted by the secretaries. “They asked us why we behaved as if we were the only one in need of money.”
The PTUZ leader said: “We have discovered that Mukonoweshuro has renounced his responsibility and is not prepared to entertain us. So we have resolved that demonstrations will now target the President and the Prime Minister's offices. We will start with the PM’s office. If nothing is done we will go to the President’s office, one of the first successful teachers in Zimbabwe.”
Teachers have been battling to get the government to review their current earnings from the US$100 monthly allowance that government pays all its workers to US$454, embarking on a Friday class boycott and threatening to intensify the action if government fails to address their concerns.
Last week, the PTUZ staged demonstrations in several cities but were blocked by the police in Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe and Chinhoyi, where they filed High Court petitions to have the police action declared null and void.
The courts were still looking at the applications, according to Zhou. “We have filed High Court orders in these towns because police prevented teachers from demonstrating, even after initially approving our applications. There was a 75 percent success, 75 percent school closures were registered in these areas.
In Harare we will be demonstrating next week,” the PTUZ president claimed. He said 150 PTUZ members had downed chalks in Masvingo, 130 had not gone to work in Bulawayo, 145 teachers were participating in the demonstrations in Chinhoyi and 85 teachers had gathered for the demonstrations in Kwekwe before police said they could not go ahead.
Demonstrations could not take place in Harare because the PTUZ felt there were so many programmes going on at the time, including preparations for the constitutional conference. Education Minister David Coltart told ZimOnline last week he had received reports of the demonstrations in Bulawayo but he had not heard of any reports in other parts of the country. Coltart has in the past met teachers’ union leaders to urge them to be patient as the government tries to mobilise resources from donors to improve salaries and working conditions.
On Monday last week the largest union representing teachers in the country, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), threatened to go on strike if they did not get a pay rise by month-end.
– ZimOnline
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou told ZimOnline that they felt Mugabe, a former teacher, would understand their grievances more than any other person in government but they would have to approach the PM before staging demonstrations at the veteran leader’s offices.
Zhou said about 200 teachers demonstrated in Harare on Monday under police escort.“We went to the Public Service Commission but because they had already heard that we were coming they all disappeared leaving only secretaries manning offices,” said Zhou, adding that the protesting teachers were insulted by the secretaries. “They asked us why we behaved as if we were the only one in need of money.”
The PTUZ leader said: “We have discovered that Mukonoweshuro has renounced his responsibility and is not prepared to entertain us. So we have resolved that demonstrations will now target the President and the Prime Minister's offices. We will start with the PM’s office. If nothing is done we will go to the President’s office, one of the first successful teachers in Zimbabwe.”
Teachers have been battling to get the government to review their current earnings from the US$100 monthly allowance that government pays all its workers to US$454, embarking on a Friday class boycott and threatening to intensify the action if government fails to address their concerns.
Last week, the PTUZ staged demonstrations in several cities but were blocked by the police in Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe and Chinhoyi, where they filed High Court petitions to have the police action declared null and void.
The courts were still looking at the applications, according to Zhou. “We have filed High Court orders in these towns because police prevented teachers from demonstrating, even after initially approving our applications. There was a 75 percent success, 75 percent school closures were registered in these areas.
In Harare we will be demonstrating next week,” the PTUZ president claimed. He said 150 PTUZ members had downed chalks in Masvingo, 130 had not gone to work in Bulawayo, 145 teachers were participating in the demonstrations in Chinhoyi and 85 teachers had gathered for the demonstrations in Kwekwe before police said they could not go ahead.
Demonstrations could not take place in Harare because the PTUZ felt there were so many programmes going on at the time, including preparations for the constitutional conference. Education Minister David Coltart told ZimOnline last week he had received reports of the demonstrations in Bulawayo but he had not heard of any reports in other parts of the country. Coltart has in the past met teachers’ union leaders to urge them to be patient as the government tries to mobilise resources from donors to improve salaries and working conditions.
On Monday last week the largest union representing teachers in the country, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), threatened to go on strike if they did not get a pay rise by month-end.
– ZimOnline
Friday, July 10, 2009
Bid to block coverage of Zim investment talks
The principal director in the Ministry of Economic Planning has told our correspondent he will not be allowed to cover the International Investment conference in Harare that begins Thursday, because he is not accredited with the legally defunct Media Information Commission (MIC).
Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the director, who is personally accrediting the journalists, said that even those with accreditation would have to be vetted, before being allowed to cover the conference.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara will share the stage at the conference in Harare, which has been publicized as an opportunity to question the three leaders directly about the unity government.
Elton Mangoma, the Economic Planning Minister, told us on Wednesday those wanting to invest in the media were welcome. But this latest attempt to block the media will encourage no investment at all. Muchemwa said journalists without accreditation would only be allowed in the conference if they pay $150 to enter as individuals and not as journalists.
This comes just a short time after a High Court judge ruled that the MIC is a defunct body. Four journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealous Mawarire last month successfully challenged in the High court the government's requirement of accreditation with the MIC, as the body is no longer operational.
High Court Justice Bharat Patel granted the four an interim order barring Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu and his permanent secretary George Charamba from interfering with the operations of the four journalists in their work. But this was ignored when they tried to cover the COMESA conference in Victoria Falls and their attendance was blocked.
-SW Radio Africa
Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the director, who is personally accrediting the journalists, said that even those with accreditation would have to be vetted, before being allowed to cover the conference.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara will share the stage at the conference in Harare, which has been publicized as an opportunity to question the three leaders directly about the unity government.
Elton Mangoma, the Economic Planning Minister, told us on Wednesday those wanting to invest in the media were welcome. But this latest attempt to block the media will encourage no investment at all. Muchemwa said journalists without accreditation would only be allowed in the conference if they pay $150 to enter as individuals and not as journalists.
This comes just a short time after a High Court judge ruled that the MIC is a defunct body. Four journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealous Mawarire last month successfully challenged in the High court the government's requirement of accreditation with the MIC, as the body is no longer operational.
High Court Justice Bharat Patel granted the four an interim order barring Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu and his permanent secretary George Charamba from interfering with the operations of the four journalists in their work. But this was ignored when they tried to cover the COMESA conference in Victoria Falls and their attendance was blocked.
-SW Radio Africa
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Another round of cholera expected
HARARE, 8 July 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived.
"There are fears of yet another outbreak," Tsitsi Singizi, information Officer of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN. Since cholera was first reported in August 2008, close to 100,000 people have been infected and over 4,000 have died.
Aid agencies have been gearing up for the eventuality of a serious comeback by drilling 200 new boreholes in cholera hotspots, distributing hygiene kits, and sensitization and education efforts to better equip Zimbabweans to cope.
"The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year [2008] still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak," Singizi said.
Zimbabwe often records cholera cases during the rainy season, but the economic implosion has meant that the underlying issues responsible for the epidemic - collapsed sewerage systems, poor access to adequate drinking water and continued failure to collect refuse - have yet to be addressed.
"We have started procuring oral rehydration and IV [intravenous] fluids, which are the first line in the defence for someone affected by cholera," Singizi noted.
''The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak''
Too late and too little
"The government has had to scrounge around in order to give the city of Harare [the capital] the money in order to deal with problems associated with water and sanitation. Harare was the epicentre of the cholera outbreak," Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN.
"We want to ensure that does not happen [again] as we approach the rain season, so it is a race against time." Biti said he had allotted some US$17 million to the Harare municipality to address the water reticulation and sewerage system issues.
The money will be spent on rehabilitating the capital's water treatment and distribution network and sewerage system. "We hope the city of Harare will be able once again to provide clean water to all its residents, and that cholera will be a thing of the past," he commented.
Water development minister Sam Sipepa Nkomo said it would take at least US$21 million. "That is the correct amount needed to completely overhaul the Harare water and sewerage network. However, this financial injection is a positive development and a step in the right direction."
-IRIN
"There are fears of yet another outbreak," Tsitsi Singizi, information Officer of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN. Since cholera was first reported in August 2008, close to 100,000 people have been infected and over 4,000 have died.
Aid agencies have been gearing up for the eventuality of a serious comeback by drilling 200 new boreholes in cholera hotspots, distributing hygiene kits, and sensitization and education efforts to better equip Zimbabweans to cope.
"The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year [2008] still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak," Singizi said.
Zimbabwe often records cholera cases during the rainy season, but the economic implosion has meant that the underlying issues responsible for the epidemic - collapsed sewerage systems, poor access to adequate drinking water and continued failure to collect refuse - have yet to be addressed.
"We have started procuring oral rehydration and IV [intravenous] fluids, which are the first line in the defence for someone affected by cholera," Singizi noted.
''The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak''
Too late and too little
"The government has had to scrounge around in order to give the city of Harare [the capital] the money in order to deal with problems associated with water and sanitation. Harare was the epicentre of the cholera outbreak," Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN.
"We want to ensure that does not happen [again] as we approach the rain season, so it is a race against time." Biti said he had allotted some US$17 million to the Harare municipality to address the water reticulation and sewerage system issues.
The money will be spent on rehabilitating the capital's water treatment and distribution network and sewerage system. "We hope the city of Harare will be able once again to provide clean water to all its residents, and that cholera will be a thing of the past," he commented.
Water development minister Sam Sipepa Nkomo said it would take at least US$21 million. "That is the correct amount needed to completely overhaul the Harare water and sewerage network. However, this financial injection is a positive development and a step in the right direction."
-IRIN
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Diamonds in the rough: Human rights abuses in the Marange diamond fields
Below is the full report compiled by the Human Rights Watch on the human rights abuses by ZANU PF in the Marange diamond fields in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), are engaging in forced labor of children and adults and are torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange, in late October 2008. With the complicity of ZANU-PF, Marange has become a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.
The military's violent takeover of the Marange diamond fields in October 2008 occurred one month after ZANU-PF agreed to share power with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party that won the March 2008 elections. The contested vote precipitated a political crisis and period of rampant human rights abuses by ZANU-PF against members of the opposition. The seizure of the diamond fields took place amidst a major economic crisis in Zimbabwe, caused largely by the failed policies of ZANU-PF, which resulted in astronomical inflation, rampant unemployment, the unchecked spread of disease, and massive food insecurity.
In this context, army brigades have been rotated into Marange to ensure that key front-line units have an opportunity to benefit from the diamond trade. Soldiers have bullied and threatened miners and other civilians into forming syndicates so that the soldiers can control diamond mining and trade in Marange. The enrichment of soldiers serves to mollify a constituency whose loyalty to ZANU-PF, in the context of ongoing political strife, is essential. The deployment of the military in Marange also ensures access to mining revenue by senior members of ZANU-PF and the army. Human Rights Watch believes that money from illegal diamond trading is likely to be a significant source of revenue for senior figures in ZANU-PF, which has either failed to or decided not to effectively regulate the diamond fields while exploiting the absence of clear legal ownership of the gemstones.
Diamonds were discovered in Marange in June 2006, and ZANU-PF effectively encouraged a diamond rush by declaring the fields open to anyone to mine. By November 2006, however, a nationwide police operation was launched to clamp down on illegal mining across the country, including in Marange. Police assumed control of the diamond fields; but, rather than halt illegal mining and trade, they exacerbated and exploited the lawlessness on the fields. Police officers were responsible for serious abuses-including killings, torture, beatings, and harassment-often by so-called "reaction teams" deployed to drive out illegal miners. Miners described colleagues being buried alive. A police officer working with a reaction team told Human Rights Watch of orders from senior officers to "shoot on sight" miners found in the fields. Villagers described arbitrary arrests, beatings, and harassment that by May 2008 had swamped a local prison with 1,600 prisoners, 1,300 more than its capacity.
With policing disintegrating into anarchy, the army operation called Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), which started on October 27, 2008, appears to have been designed both to restore a degree of order and to allow key army units access to riches at a time when inflation in Zimbabwe was astronomically high and the country teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Military operations over a three-week period involved indiscriminate fire against miners at work and people in their villages. Between November 1 and November 12, 107 bodies, many with visible bullet wounds, were brought from Marange to the morgue at Mutare Hospital. Overcrowded, the hospital eventually had to turn away trucks carrying more bodies. One man described to Human Rights Watch the extrajudicial execution of his brother on November 14-shot in the back of the head by soldiers who had accused him of being an illegal miner. Scores of miners and diamond traders were tortured and beaten, and at least 80 villagers from Muchena were beaten by soldiers demanding to know the identities and whereabouts of local illegal miners.
With control established, the army rapidly turned to forming syndicates, often using forced labor, including of children. A miner described to Human Rights Watch how his syndicate was cheated by the soldiers who formed it-when the men decided to abandon work, soldiers shot them, leading to the death of one man and the maiming of another. Children describe being made to carry diamond ore, working up to 11 hours per day with no reward. One local lawyer has estimated that up to 300 children continue to work for soldiers in the diamond fields.
While Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government, formed in February 2009, now lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country, and corruption. The new government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as US$200 million per month, if Marange and other mining centers were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government's economic recovery program, which would benefit ordinary villagers like the residents of Marange.
Human Rights Watch calls on the power-sharing government of Zimbabwe to remove the military from Marange, restore security responsibilities to the police, and ensure that the police abide by internationally recognized standards of law enforcement and the use of lethal force. The power-sharing government should appoint a local police oversight committee consisting of all relevant stakeholders, launch an impartial and independent investigation into the serious human rights abuses committed there, and hold accountable all those found to be responsible for abuses. Members of the army and police who have committed abuses should also face disciplinary action for their crimes. The new Zimbabwe government should strengthen resource accountability by allowing greater transparency in how mining revenues are derived, permitting public scrutiny of the allocation of that revenue, and protecting the basic civil and political, as well as economic and social, rights of its citizens.
As a formal participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)-an international scheme governing the global diamond industry-Zimbabwe has a responsibility to immediately end the smuggling, corruption, and abuses that are taking place in Marange and ensure effective internal control over its diamond industry. Members of the KPCS should demand that Zimbabwe comply with the scheme's minimum standards, which include stopping the smuggling of diamonds from Zimbabwe, bringing Marange diamond fields under effective legal control, and ensuring that all diamonds from Marange are lawfully mined, documented, and exported with relevant valid Kimberley Process (KP) certificates. The KPCS should take urgent measures to audit the Zimbabwean mining sector, ensure that individuals involved in smuggling return their ill-gotten gains, and act to prevent any further abuse in both the extraction and onward sales of Marange diamonds.
The Kimberley Process emerged out of a concern that rebel groups in West Africa in the 1990s were engaged in the mining and trade of conflict diamonds, which provided the groups with revenue and permitted them to commit abuses against civilians. Human rights concerns are implicit in the KPCS mandate, but that mandate has been too narrowly construed by its members. Human Rights Watch calls on the KPCS to broaden its remit to include serious and systematic abuses, not only by rebel groups in conflict, but also by other agencies, including governmental bodies. The abuses committed by Zimbabwe's police and army did not occur in armed conflict, but they are as serious as those the Kimberley Process was designed to address; for that reason, KPCS members should classify Marange diamonds as "conflict diamonds."
Human Rights Watch recommends that the KPCS suspend Zimbabwe from participation in the Kimberley Process on account of the horrific human rights abuses in Marange and the lack of effective official Zimbabwean oversight of its diamond industry. It should also place an immediate, temporary halt on the extraction and trade of Marange diamonds. The KPCS should bar Zimbabwe from exporting Marange diamonds and ban the importation of Marange diamonds by its members until the government of Zimbabwe has ended human rights abuses in Marange and has regulated the diamond fields in ways that stop smuggling. Regulation of the diamond fields should include settling the question of legal title and ensuring that only those properly licensed are allowed to mine diamonds.
Finally, as a member of the KPCS and as a regional political power, South Africa also has an important role to play. Its own huge diamond industry is at serious risk of being tainted if illegal diamonds from Marange are indeed being sold alongside South Africa's domestically produced diamonds. Human Rights Watch calls on South Africa, both individually and as a member of the KPCS, to prevent the entry of tainted precious stones from Zimbabwe and to encourage the transparency and accountability of Zimbabwe's diamond industry.
-Human Rights Watch
Zimbabwe's armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), are engaging in forced labor of children and adults and are torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange, in late October 2008. With the complicity of ZANU-PF, Marange has become a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.
The military's violent takeover of the Marange diamond fields in October 2008 occurred one month after ZANU-PF agreed to share power with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party that won the March 2008 elections. The contested vote precipitated a political crisis and period of rampant human rights abuses by ZANU-PF against members of the opposition. The seizure of the diamond fields took place amidst a major economic crisis in Zimbabwe, caused largely by the failed policies of ZANU-PF, which resulted in astronomical inflation, rampant unemployment, the unchecked spread of disease, and massive food insecurity.
In this context, army brigades have been rotated into Marange to ensure that key front-line units have an opportunity to benefit from the diamond trade. Soldiers have bullied and threatened miners and other civilians into forming syndicates so that the soldiers can control diamond mining and trade in Marange. The enrichment of soldiers serves to mollify a constituency whose loyalty to ZANU-PF, in the context of ongoing political strife, is essential. The deployment of the military in Marange also ensures access to mining revenue by senior members of ZANU-PF and the army. Human Rights Watch believes that money from illegal diamond trading is likely to be a significant source of revenue for senior figures in ZANU-PF, which has either failed to or decided not to effectively regulate the diamond fields while exploiting the absence of clear legal ownership of the gemstones.
Diamonds were discovered in Marange in June 2006, and ZANU-PF effectively encouraged a diamond rush by declaring the fields open to anyone to mine. By November 2006, however, a nationwide police operation was launched to clamp down on illegal mining across the country, including in Marange. Police assumed control of the diamond fields; but, rather than halt illegal mining and trade, they exacerbated and exploited the lawlessness on the fields. Police officers were responsible for serious abuses-including killings, torture, beatings, and harassment-often by so-called "reaction teams" deployed to drive out illegal miners. Miners described colleagues being buried alive. A police officer working with a reaction team told Human Rights Watch of orders from senior officers to "shoot on sight" miners found in the fields. Villagers described arbitrary arrests, beatings, and harassment that by May 2008 had swamped a local prison with 1,600 prisoners, 1,300 more than its capacity.
With policing disintegrating into anarchy, the army operation called Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), which started on October 27, 2008, appears to have been designed both to restore a degree of order and to allow key army units access to riches at a time when inflation in Zimbabwe was astronomically high and the country teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Military operations over a three-week period involved indiscriminate fire against miners at work and people in their villages. Between November 1 and November 12, 107 bodies, many with visible bullet wounds, were brought from Marange to the morgue at Mutare Hospital. Overcrowded, the hospital eventually had to turn away trucks carrying more bodies. One man described to Human Rights Watch the extrajudicial execution of his brother on November 14-shot in the back of the head by soldiers who had accused him of being an illegal miner. Scores of miners and diamond traders were tortured and beaten, and at least 80 villagers from Muchena were beaten by soldiers demanding to know the identities and whereabouts of local illegal miners.
With control established, the army rapidly turned to forming syndicates, often using forced labor, including of children. A miner described to Human Rights Watch how his syndicate was cheated by the soldiers who formed it-when the men decided to abandon work, soldiers shot them, leading to the death of one man and the maiming of another. Children describe being made to carry diamond ore, working up to 11 hours per day with no reward. One local lawyer has estimated that up to 300 children continue to work for soldiers in the diamond fields.
While Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government, formed in February 2009, now lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country, and corruption. The new government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as US$200 million per month, if Marange and other mining centers were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government's economic recovery program, which would benefit ordinary villagers like the residents of Marange.
Human Rights Watch calls on the power-sharing government of Zimbabwe to remove the military from Marange, restore security responsibilities to the police, and ensure that the police abide by internationally recognized standards of law enforcement and the use of lethal force. The power-sharing government should appoint a local police oversight committee consisting of all relevant stakeholders, launch an impartial and independent investigation into the serious human rights abuses committed there, and hold accountable all those found to be responsible for abuses. Members of the army and police who have committed abuses should also face disciplinary action for their crimes. The new Zimbabwe government should strengthen resource accountability by allowing greater transparency in how mining revenues are derived, permitting public scrutiny of the allocation of that revenue, and protecting the basic civil and political, as well as economic and social, rights of its citizens.
As a formal participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)-an international scheme governing the global diamond industry-Zimbabwe has a responsibility to immediately end the smuggling, corruption, and abuses that are taking place in Marange and ensure effective internal control over its diamond industry. Members of the KPCS should demand that Zimbabwe comply with the scheme's minimum standards, which include stopping the smuggling of diamonds from Zimbabwe, bringing Marange diamond fields under effective legal control, and ensuring that all diamonds from Marange are lawfully mined, documented, and exported with relevant valid Kimberley Process (KP) certificates. The KPCS should take urgent measures to audit the Zimbabwean mining sector, ensure that individuals involved in smuggling return their ill-gotten gains, and act to prevent any further abuse in both the extraction and onward sales of Marange diamonds.
The Kimberley Process emerged out of a concern that rebel groups in West Africa in the 1990s were engaged in the mining and trade of conflict diamonds, which provided the groups with revenue and permitted them to commit abuses against civilians. Human rights concerns are implicit in the KPCS mandate, but that mandate has been too narrowly construed by its members. Human Rights Watch calls on the KPCS to broaden its remit to include serious and systematic abuses, not only by rebel groups in conflict, but also by other agencies, including governmental bodies. The abuses committed by Zimbabwe's police and army did not occur in armed conflict, but they are as serious as those the Kimberley Process was designed to address; for that reason, KPCS members should classify Marange diamonds as "conflict diamonds."
Human Rights Watch recommends that the KPCS suspend Zimbabwe from participation in the Kimberley Process on account of the horrific human rights abuses in Marange and the lack of effective official Zimbabwean oversight of its diamond industry. It should also place an immediate, temporary halt on the extraction and trade of Marange diamonds. The KPCS should bar Zimbabwe from exporting Marange diamonds and ban the importation of Marange diamonds by its members until the government of Zimbabwe has ended human rights abuses in Marange and has regulated the diamond fields in ways that stop smuggling. Regulation of the diamond fields should include settling the question of legal title and ensuring that only those properly licensed are allowed to mine diamonds.
Finally, as a member of the KPCS and as a regional political power, South Africa also has an important role to play. Its own huge diamond industry is at serious risk of being tainted if illegal diamonds from Marange are indeed being sold alongside South Africa's domestically produced diamonds. Human Rights Watch calls on South Africa, both individually and as a member of the KPCS, to prevent the entry of tainted precious stones from Zimbabwe and to encourage the transparency and accountability of Zimbabwe's diamond industry.
-Human Rights Watch
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