Mass murders in Chiadzwa’s diamond fields

A daily horror is taking place in Chiadzwa’s diamond rich mine fields as desperate, hungry people throng the area, converging from different parts of the country driven by the dream and hope for instant wealth only for some to lose their lives at the hands of the army and police.

From the information I am getting the situation is dire as unarmed diamond panners play cat and mouse games with armed personel from the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe National Army, who are under instruction from their superiors to shoot the panners dead on sight. Between 15 and 30 panners are being killed every day either from gun shot wounds or from being mauled to death by vicious police dogs.

From the report I got from a panner who recently travelled to Chiadzwa in search of the precious stone, decomposing bodies of dead panners are not being collected and are being left in the fields on the sights on the killings to serve as an example and deterrent to would be diamond panners. His friend’s brother was shot in the chest a week ago while on an expedition to Chiadzwa, but luckily escaped with his life as the gun shot wound was not severe.

Diamonds from Chiadzwa are a reason why the Zanu PF administration is still teetering on, continuing to function while on the verge of collapse and account for the extravagant wealth and lifestyles of leading members in the party.

Systematic looting of the diamonds occurs on a daily basis and large numbers of corrupt and greedy policeman and army personnel are deployed in the diamond fields to ensure that no ordinary people gain access. More desperate people driven by hunger and poverty flock the fields on a daily basis and risk their lives in an effort to acquire the elusive diamond and the numbers of those who will lose their lives in the process are expected to rise as there is no solution in sight to the Zimbabwean problem.

My informant alikens the situation in Chiadzwa to that in the movie Blood Diamond, the major difference being that the army and police represent the rebels and they don’t in any way interact with the diamond panners.

This entry was posted by Freedom Writer on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.