Open diamond mining at Chiadzwa Photo courtesy |
Although economic sanctions were designed to severely shrink government coffers, diamonds in Chiadzwa alone have the potential to swell government revenue to levels that would render sanctions impotent. No wonder, Britain has embarked on a propaganda campaign to discredit
The best way to combat this malicious propaganda campaign is to propagate the truth. We need to appreciate the extent to which the diamonds could benefit the nation and shine a spotlight, clear and bright, on British propaganda and machinations, both public and private.
It is estimated that the diamonds in Chiadzwa could earn
Several aspects of
Firstly, the government could provide some financing to state-owned companies, which are currently toiling under sanctions. This would be immensely beneficial to the nation because these sanctioned companies provide basic goods and services to ordinary Zimbabweans, employment for hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, financing for the crucial farming, mining, manufacturing and retail sectors and provide the State with millions of dollars in tax revenue. Secondly, the executive could begin to replenish greatly depleted chalk in schools, medicine in clinics and asphalt on roads - the very infrastructure that sanctions seek to collapse.
Thirdly, the government could provide ZESA and under-capitalised private banks with financial assistance, which can in-turn provide relief for exporting manufacturers, farmers and miners suffering from electricity shortages and lack of access to loans. Finally, the boost in revenue would allow government to mobilise adequate resources to pay civil servants dignified wages, commensurate to their invaluable contribution to society.
The fear that revenue from Chiadzwa can undo a great deal of the damage wrought by sanctions has fuelled attempts to stop
For, to actively impose sanctions with one hand, and yet passively allow Zimbabwe to prosper from its diamonds with the other, is unthinkable for
In order to wage an unjust economic war on a nation, the aggressor must have propaganda at the top of its agenda. As part of her arsenal,
The public British-led propaganda strategy consists of firstly, concocting stories of 'human rights' abuses and labelling the diamonds in Chiadzwa as 'blood diamonds' - stones mined amid violence, sold to fund conflict, or both. This notion has been rejected by the Kimberley Process (KP). Secondly,
The private British-led strategy, on the other hand, involves vigorous lobbying for
The KP, represents 75 countries and covers 95 per cent of the global rough-diamond industry. Therefore, expulsion from this influential group would amount to further sanctions on the people of
Given that the raison d'etre of illegal economic sanctions, namely, a reversal of the land democratisation programme, lies in tatters and further given that the revenue from diamonds in Chiadzwa is set to neutralise the effect of sanctions, it wont be surprising if the actions of those imposing sanctions and attempting to camouflage them with propaganda, become increasingly desperate.
By Garikai Chengu, a scholar at