A Report on Social Corporate Responsibility by companies in Chiadzwa.
211017 Refias Sithole/Chiadzwa
Marange Development Trust is a community based organisation socio- economic and environmental issues in Marange Chiadzwa and how they impact on the people’s lives. Marange development trust also do monitoring initiatives on social service delivery by the government and companies mining diamond in Chiadzwa to enhance and promote development in Marange .
This report is going to focus mainly on social corporate responsibility by mining companies in Chiadzwa since their inception in 2009. These companies include Mbada diamonds, Marange resource, Anjin ,Kusena diamonds ,Diamond Mining company.
Although it is government sole responsibility to provide social service and development to the people, it is also the responsibility of companies to promote development in the area they are doing business hence companies in Chiadzwa promised to chip in and help the government in social economic and environmental delivery in Marange to make sure these communities are benefiting from diamond mining extraction as enunciated by our constitution as well as our blue print ZimAsset which entails poverty reduction, beneficiation and value addition to mineral resources .
Therefore when companies mining in chiadzwa came into effect starting from 2009 ,they promised people a number of developmental issues as part of their social corporate responsibility. The companies promised to reconstruct the devastating roads as well as improving infrastructural development to the community. They also promised to respect the cultural values and norms in Chiadzwa by compensating lose of grave sites and preserve our our historic shrines in the diamond area but failed to honour their promises and this have greatly violated our cultural rights and have disturbed the relationship and co- existence and social order among our communities.
However it is also intriguing and disturbing that most communities in Marange Chiadzwa are still of of the poorest in Zimbabwe yet they are endowed with a lot of mineral resources in the form of diamond. People in Chiadzwa have not been benefiting from their natural resources and the companies mining diamonds in Chiadzwa have not been reaping the profits they a getting as part of their social corporate responsibility to the community.
Despite these companies especially Mbada diamonds in giving or handing out some food hampers to the people in 2011 and 20012, people are still crying foul and they have felt that it was not enough to improve their social and economic development and their wellbeing. People in Chiadzwa wanted to get assistance from mining companies to do their projects and uplift themselves from the abject of poverty in the area since these companies are mining their God given natural resources .Unfortunately there was nothing like that in Chiadzwa even the current consolidated diamont company have not yet done anything to the community as also part of their social corporate responsibility for the promotion of development. The people have felt that these companies have betrayed them and have sidelined them in the circle of developement , companies have not yet fulfilled their promises to the people to enhance development. Companies mining diamond in chiadzwa failed to honour their plegde in theZimunya- Marange Community Trust which was meant to kick start development avenues in Marange Chiadzwa , in infrastructural development like schools, hospitals roads jus to mention a few hence a violation to our rights and other associated rights. The companies have also let us down in the effort to eliminate and reduce poverty as also outlined in ZimAsset program.
Companies mining diamonds in Chiadzwa were not even Paying taxes to Mutare rural district council for enhancement of development , even the current consolidated company have also taken the same route more worse than the previous companies.
Moreover companies doing mining in Chiadzwa have failed to maintain a glueling relationship among the communities .People are not happy about what the companies are doing and the way they are mining diamonds in Chiadzwa .As a matter of fact the communities are strongly believing that the companies have already done more harm and damage than good to the lives of people living in Chiadzwa. The communities are still trapped in adverse poverty , environmental degradation from mining activities as well as human rights abuses. Therefore we as Marange Development Trust are advocating to stop the mining in Chiadzwa as a matter of urgency ..
