Marange communities get boost

The state media reports that the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT) has stepped up efforts to enhance the benefication process for the communities living in the Marange area with the locals castigating foreign NGOs for pursuing selfish interests and negating their true purpose of assisting the community.

This comes as Mbada Diamonds last week gave up to US$70 000 each to shop owners whose businesses were relocated to accommodate the diamond-mining activities in the area.

The projects are in tandem with Kimberly Process Certification Scheme guidelines of upgrading the livelihoods of people that were relocated to pave way for diamond mining in the area.

Speaking during a CCDT planning workshop here yesterday, the trust's projects manager, Ms Melanie Chiponda, said several income-generating projects will be unveiled to improve the livelihoods of people in the area.

She said  the projects include the setting up of agro processing plants, poultry, bee-keeping, goat-rearing and community gardening.

"We are in the process of coming up with a benefication model which articulates all the projects that we are going to carry out in the area. The background to all this is that the people of Marange should continue to benefit from the diamond resource through downstream industries.

"These industries will continue to benefit the people even after the lifespan of the diamond resources has expired," she said.

Ms Chiponda added that the projects will unlock fresh employment opportunities for the people of Marange and reduce donor dependency.

"We have realised that the companies mining cannot provide employment to every job-seeker from Marange. This means that people have to create employment opportunities for themselves and they will not rely on donor handouts," she said.

Ms Chiponda said Marange residents were disappointed by some foreign NGOs that were focusing their attention on denigrating the operations in their area instead of providing tangible support for the community.

She said Mbada Diamonds has responded positively to support the income-generation initiatives after it pledged to kick-start poultry projects for villagers in Marange.

"We are glad that to date, the mining companies have expressed interest in these projects. Mbada Diamonds has already led the way by providing inputs to kick-start the poultry projects," she said.

Mr Tafadzwa Musarara from the Resources Exploitation Watch said the CCDT has the potential to achieve huge success as there are a number of opportunities to venture in.

"CCDT is at the moment the most active community trust in the country and it is standing on solid ground to achieve huge success. You should take advantage of the prevailing

Government legislation on procurement which states that 50 percent of all products should be supplied by locals," he said.

AAG vice-president Mrs Elizabeth Nyathi urged people from Chiadzwa to form their own consortium and venture into mining.

"We should form consortiums of about 50 people and then do the mining ourselves. We hope that in the coming years, Government will seriously consider this," she said.

CCDT, which is made up exclusively of people from Marange area, was formed in 2009 to advance community benefits from the diamond resources that are mined in the area.