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Now, the impoverished residents who live near the mines haveanother cause for concern. Cattle drinking water from the OdziRiver downstream of diamond processing facilities have been dying,residents say. Numerous local officials and leaders of civicorganizations contend that people who have bathed in the river havedeveloped rashes and other skin ailments, and that other residentshave grown ill after drinking river water. Farai Maguwu, directorof the Center for Research and Development , a human rights organization in the nearby city of Mutare, said heis concerned that large diamond processing plants on the Odzi arereleasing toxic effluent and raw sewage into the river, which flowsinto the larger Save, or Sabi, River. Maguwu, local politicians, and the area s representative inParliament say that for decades villagers drank from the Odzi Riverand did not experience widespread health problems. But afterlarge-scale diamond processing began in 2009 and intensified in thepast year or two, complaints have mounted of human and animalailments stemming from drinking river water. A local herdsman,Richford Maramba standing near the Odzi River amid scatteredmopani and acacia trees said that two of his cows had died inrecent weeks after drinking from the Odzi. He estimated that morethan 100 cattle from nearby villages had died in the last year fromdrinking river water. We don t know what these diamond companiesare discharging into the river, said Maramba, squinting into ascorching sun. But whatever it is, it is not good for us and ourlivestock. Figuring out what, exactly, the diamond companies are releasinginto the Odzi River is a daunting task, given the tight security atthe mines, the ties of the mining companies to Mugabe s regime andhis ZANU-PF Party, and the lack of transparency in Marange diamondoperations. Only in February and March of this year were oppositionpoliticians and members of Parliament taken on tours of the Marangediamond fields, which by some estimates hold 25 percent of theworld s diamond deposits. Those tours were tightly restricted. Lawmakers were denied access to local villagers, and two otherreporters and I were arrested while interviewing villagers aboutmining pollution. We were held by the police for six hours andcharged with criminal Two other reporters and I were arrested while interviewingvillagers about mining pollution. nuisance. Those charges are still pending. Shamiso Mtisi of the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association said heand other representatives from civil society organizations raisedthe issue of pollution with diamond company executives. Accordingto Mtisi, senior company officials said they had created some pondswhere they were discharging tailings from the mines, but that notoxic waste was going into the river. They denied that waste materials are harmful, said Mtisi. Weare still [intending] to carry out our own independent analysis ofthe water. Environmental laws in Zimbabwe are lax and are unlikely to bestrictly enforced, especially against companies with close ties tothe Mugabe regime and the ZANU-PF Party. One of a handful ofcompanies mining and processing diamonds in Marange is Mbada Diamonds , whose chairman is Zimbabwe s former Air Vice Marshall RobertMhlanga, according to Global Witness. He also reportedly wasMugabe s personal pilot, Global Witness says. Mbada is a 50-50 joint venture between Marange Resources Ltd.,which is owned by the state-run Zimbabwe Diamond MiningCorporation, and Grandwell Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Reclam, aSouth African scrap metal company. In its 2011 annual report, inwhich it is required to discuss potential environmentalliabilities, Reclam noted that it was generally less The company noted that it was less expensive to pollute and payfines than pay for pollution controls. expensive to pollute and pay the fines in Marange than to pay forthe installation of pollution controls. As part of its diamond mining operations, the Reclam reportsaid, Mbada uses various chemicals and produces overburden andwastewater, which could have a negative impact on wildlife andvegetation of adjacent areas if improperly discharged. In addition,hazardous materials, such as explosives used in mining operationsand solvents, are used to clean, refurbish and maintain mining,processing and other equipment. These activities are subject to a number of laws and regulationsrelating to environmental protection. Fees are assessed forexceeding agreed limits on emissions and effluents. Currently thesefees are generally small in relation to the cost of environmentalprotection equipment and it is generally less expensive to pay thefees than to install anti-pollution devices. Further, theapplicable laws do not generally require clean-up of environmentalpollutants, and when clean-up is required, the applicable lawsprovide no guidance as to the extent to which the clean-up must becarried out. Reclam s annual report cautioned, however, that should enforcementof environmental laws become more stringent in the future, Mbadamight be required to make significant capital expenditures. Another well-connected company mining and processing diamonds inMarange is Anjin Investments , a joint venture between a little-known Zimbabwean company, MattBronze, and a Chinese construction company, according to GlobalWitness. Among the members of Anjin s board are the permanentsecretary of Zimbabwe s Ministry of Defense, two commissioners ofthe Zimbabwe Republic Police, and current and former officers ofthe Zimbabwe Defense Forces, according to Global Witness. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Car Key Cutting Machine Manufacturer , Car Repair Troubleshooting Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Automotive Diagnostic Tools.
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