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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
Why
should Anjin pay peanuts for Meikles Park
Clifford Chitupa
Mashiri
September 20, 2011
Following reports that Anjin paid only US$1000 per family as compensation
to 20 of the close to 300 families it evicted
from Chiadzwa to Odzi, tongues are wagging at plans to give
it Meikles Park for a song.
Households were
demanding US$50 000 before they were moved to ARDA Transau in the
Odzi area, a figure that a local human rights organisation, the
Centre for Research
and Development (CRD) felt was justified.
However, Anjin
management reportedly refused to pay, instead armed soldiers and
police forced villagers to pave way for mining diamonds (The Zimbabwean,
11/05/11).
Other reports
say compensation for the displaced families is just a three-roomed
brick and mortar house. Furthermore, the villagers complained of
being denied opportunities to work at the mines or the proposed
diamond cutting plant at Mount Hampden near Harare (The Independent,
23/06/11).
Considering
the fact that the displaced villagers made way for others to work
at the mines while they were forced into destitution, it is only
logical to demand that Anjin compensates them in line with the UN
habitat minimum standards for relocation.
There are serious
concerns at the planned sale of Mutare-s Meikles Park which
has mysteriously been offered to Anjin for US$160 000 by the local
government ministry as opposed to US$1.7million proposed by the
city council.
It is not clear
if Mutare City Council is that desperate for cash and consulted
residents before deciding to part with such a vital asset which
others have described as prime land, almost the city centre of Mutare
which might not be accessible to locals to meet and relax (NewsDay,
19/09/11).
The wide disparity in the prices offered and the surrounding circumstances
make it imperative to urgently refer the Meikles Park saga to the
Anti Corruption Commission for a thorough investigation.
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