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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Marange, Chiadzwa and other diamond fields and the Kimberley Process - Index of articles
No
end to killings in Chiadzwa
Center
for Research and Development (CRD)
September
20, 2009
The cold blooded
murder of Zimbabweans by the state security agents in Chiadzwa continued
with the shooting of yet another panner by a soldier with the Zimbabwe
National Army on Thursday 17/9/09. Alfonzo Mupamhadzi (19) from
Chimombe village under Chief Nyashanu was shot and killed at a business
center called Mashukashuka in the company of two friends. It is
strongly believed the three were working in a syndicate with a soldier
who later accused Alfonzo of hiding a piece of diamond which they
had discovered. The soldier followed the group to the business centre
where hundreds of buyers descend daily to buy diamonds and pulled
the trigger on Alfonzo. The body of Alfonzo was carried to Mutare
general Hospital Mortuary by two Policemen and a Soldier. His next
of kin have not been informed.
Meanwhile the CRD can
reveal that the body of Moreblesing Tirivangani, murdered by the
soldiers on 6/9/09 in Chiadzwa is lying unclaimed at Mutare general
Hospital Mortuary. There is no indication of any Government efforts
to inform his next of kin. As was the case with other panners who
have fallen victim to the soldiers in Chiadzwa, no effort is taken
by the government to inform the relatives of the deceased. Consequently
the government declares that the bodies have not been claimed and
the relatives are unknown, paving way for a pauper's burial. About
78 panners' bodies were buried in an mass grave at Dangamvura cemetery
on the 18th of December 2008
It is more than
one year after the signing of the Inter-party
Political Agreement (IPA) which gave birth to the Inclusive
Government in February this year. It is estimated that more than
a thousand civilians have been murdered by the Zimbabwe National
Army in Chiadzwa since the signing of the IPA, less than a tenth
of them after the formation of the Inclusive Government in February
2009. Investigating the atrocities has been a nightmare since the
entire Marange area has been militarized, thereby cutting off the
area from the public domain. An illegal curfew has been imposed
on Chiadzwa and the surrounding area by the ZNA. Further, the Zimbabwe
Republic Police have resorted to falsify information when they bring
victims' bodies to hospital mortuaries. A sizeable number of deaths
go unreported due to lack of access to the diamond fields.
Even more worrying is
the fact that there is no Institutional Reform taking place under
the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe. Soldiers continue to operate
above the law with much impunity. There is a high likelihood that
soldiers shall again be called to unleash political violence on
the masses in the near future. Parliament has not grilled the Minister
of Defense to account for the deaths of more than a thousand civilians
in Chiadzwa at his instigation. In Mutare the CRD noted an incident
in which soldiers assaulted a man for telling a friend that media
reform was progressing slowly. The reform of state institutions,
rather than 4 X 4 cars for legislators and bickering over the removal
of sanctions, ought to have been top on the priorities of the Inclusive
Government. Zimbabwe cannot afford to continue losing precious lives
to rogue and greedy soldiers whose vocation appear to start and
end at abusing and killing civilians.
The Kimberly
Processes Certification Scheme team which visited Zimbabwe on a
fact finding mission in July recommended
an immediate withdrawal of the army from Chiadzwa. However, due
to rampant corruption by senior government officials hell bent on
looting Chiadzwa diamonds and the apparent take over of the country
by service chiefs, Chiadzwa remains under the tight control of the
army. Had proper mining been taking place in Chiadzwa and if there
was a political will to develop Zimbabwe, Chiadzwa diamonds provides
an answer to most of Zimbabwe's economic woes.
Visit the Center
for Research and Development (CRD) fact
sheet
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