MARANGE RUBBISH AND RUGS

MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE SURPRISED THAT  diamonds that killed many people saved none.

FOR decades, Marange has been known for nothing else save for poverty until some few years ago when the greatest and most spectacular find of the century was made in that area. Expectations were high that the discovery of diamonds in Marange would revolutionize the livelihood of the residents of that arid land. The cake was just too big for Marange or Manicaland, thus it had to be shared nationally. However, Marange still remains the habitat of the poorest people in the country.

As a resident of Marange, I am in total agreement with the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Saviour Kasukuwere when he gentlemanly admitted that government let us down by letting companies that were operating in Chiadzwa loot the diamond proceeds. Indeed, the nation in general and Marange in particular did not enjoy to the fullest, the God-given endowment. Marange Community received with shock the news that the diamonds were exhausted when they had not seen anything to show for their
resource. They were still expecting dividends from the diamond proceeds realized daily by the unscrupulous mining firms. These mines refused to comply with government directive of merging because they knew they had already got their easy pickings through their mechanized panning which only exploited the alluvial diamonds. It was alluvial diamonds which they had exhausted and were not prepared to go underground. They did not  lose sleep over losing their operating licences because they had already stashed the diamonds proceeds in their offshore accounts.

There was the ministry of Mines and Mining Development that played an oversight role over the mining operations in Chiadzwa. There was Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) which was in partnership with all the mining firms on behalf of government. There were government appointees in the boards of those mining companies. Where were all these people when the diamonds were looted?

MAybe some of you benefited....kindly share with us how this worked out by emailing linkundla@gmail.com or leaving a comment here.

SITTING ON A HOT SEAT-RITA MAKARAU

WERE YOU AWARE THAT ZEC HAS A HOT SEAT?  We guess even the office of the RG is hotter also as the man has failed to move even after passing the retirement age.

ZIMBABWE Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau, says she is “sitting on a hot seat” as her jobrequires her to strike an uneasy balance between transparency and vote secrecy.

Justice Makarau, who is also the Electoral Commissions Forum-DADC President, was addressing new election
commissioners from Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia and Malawi in Harare, on Wednesday.

Accused by the opposition of being biased towards President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party and failing to stop
vote rigging, Makarau said balancing transparency and vote protection was a difficult task during any election.

“I have always marveled at how elections demand that we be transparent and secret at the same time,” she said.
“You know what I am talking about; our processes have got to be very, very transparent but we have got to protect the secrecy of the vote.

“So it is a skill that you have got to learn and balance. When do I stop being transparent and start protecting the secrecy of thevote?” In the first round of the 2008 elections, ZEC took almost three
months to announce the Presidential vote after then Zanu PF Presidential candidate, Robert Mugabe, had lost to Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition MDC.

ZEC, at the time, defended the delay saying they were “meticulously verifying the result” which they later said did not give Tsvangirai the outright majority win required to take over power.

A runoff Presidential vote was later called which the opposition boycotted, citing violence against its party supporters by Zanu PF militia.

Mugabe and his party then romped to a stomping victory in the 2013 election which ended the coalition government but the opposition rejected the result, accusing the now 92-year-old leader of cheating.

Makarau said there were times when transparency could be compromised for vote protection, and challenged the electorate “to bear with the election managers when such things happen”. “We may laugh but we need to understand at each and every stage the guiding principle; the underlying principle why we do certain things in a particular way.

“Why do we have to be transparent at one stage and have to be secretive at some other stages,” she said.