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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
Villagers in the diamond-rich community of Marange have called on Government to establish a diamond cutting and polishing school and create employment for local youths who have not benefited much from the gem since it was discovered in the area. Marange community has always accused mining companies that were operating in the Chiadzwa diamond fields of failing to plough back into the community through employment creation.

Following the expulsion of all private mining firms in the diamond sector by Government and the coming on board of the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), locals have renewed their hopes of benefiting from the sector. Mrs Magraet Gonora, a villager in Marange, told The Herald that local youths had not been getting jobs at the diamond mining companies because they were unqualified.

“Our children are not getting jobs in the diamond sector because they do not have the training. This means that most of the people working in the sector are recruited from other areas. We want them to learn so that they can benefit fully from the resources found in their community. We need a technical school or college where our children can learn diamond cutting and polishing or any other vocational training they can get within the diamond mining industry,” she said.

Mrs Gonora said Government needed to prioritise locals in the whole diamond value chain and establishment of a technical college focusing on diamond mining, cutting and polishing would allow youths in the community to fully participate in the diamond production chain. Marange Development Trust chairman Mr Malvern Mudiwa said youths should not have to leave home to get employment elsewhere when their community was offering the same to people from other areas.

“We want diamonds to benefit our communities so that our children do not have to leave home to get employment. They should be trained and work here because this is where the opportunities lie,” he said. Mr Mudiwa said the community could benefit from a model like the one being used in Mhondoro, where qualified locals have been given priority for jobs within the platinum industry. “People in Mhondoro get jobs in the platinum sector and they are doing well to improve the communities where they come from,” he said.

“But here it is not the same. We should have that diamond cutting and polishing school in Chiadzwa so that locals can get those employment opportunities.” According to new regulations announced after the establishment of ZCDC, individuals or private companies that want to be involved in the country’s diamond operations can now only do so through value addition processes like cutting and polishing. Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa last month said individuals or companies would cut and polish material sourced from ZCDC as a way of plugging loopholes that had been used to deprive the country of revenue in the past.