Stellenbosch, South Africa — Superficially, Zimbabwe is in much better shape than it was just a few years ago. Hotels are full of foreign businessmen, and luxury vehicles seem ubiquitous in the capital, Harare. Henry Ncube, a local street cleaner, has never seen as many new cars. But Mr. Ncube, 33 and married with two children, is not happy: “I only have this job part time, things are only a bit better for my family [since 2008] and I still can’t afford school” (for my children).
Mr. Ncube has reason for pessimism. Zimbabwe’s growth is being fueled almost entirely by the diamond trade, which benefits only the political elite and their friends. Zimbabwe, which has had all sorts of political problems over the past three decades, is now also succumbing to the resource curse too.
Advertisement
It is important to put things into perspective. In 2008, the economy was in tatters, neither rule of law nor stable money existed, and violence was to be found in every politically sensitive constituency. After ruling party ZANU-PF and its leader, Robert Mugabe, had lost and stolen yet another election, the future looked dire. But, in early 2009, ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC party signed a power sharing deal. Inflation was controlled by dollarizing the economy, and, with one of the world’s largest diamond finds in the east of the country, the possibilities looked bright.
Yet Mugabe’s elite still controlled the army and the despised secret police, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). And the diamond fields in Marange, near the easternmost city of Mutare, provided ZANU with the wealth to retain control. Farai Maguwu, director of the Center for Research and Development in Mutare, explained to me the detailed recent history of diamond activities. Mr. Maguwu is a winner of a Human Rights Watch award and undoubtedly a very brave man, for simply telling the truth.
Vast deposits of high-quality diamonds were found in in Marange over the summer of 2006. Geological reports by foreign companies, notably De Beers, suggested a potentially staggering find — maybe the largest in the world. Mugabe and his military were quick to seize on the prize. They followed the same process they had when stealing white-owned farms: ZANU designated the area as public land in order that artisanal miners and anyone desperate could just pitch up and start panning. Chaos reigned as 30,000 people descended on the site. Then Mugabe brought in the military to restore order. As with the farms, some members of the military and the CIO remained, took over a few of the mines, and enslaved artisanal miners to do their bidding. They then sold the rights to the remaining mines to foreign companies.
In return, one of those companies, China’s Anjin Resources, established a military academy for ZANU. Mysteriously, the CIO, which has no large budget, is now fully equipped with new Chinese vehicles, guns, and ammunition. As one political commentator, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, put it, “ZANU/CIO are rearmed just in time to steal another election.”
Imagine buying a red Ferrari for $100. It looks, drives, sounds, and smells exactly like a red Ferrari should. Everyone thinks it is genuine, and rightly so. People stare in give you comments everywhere you drive. But when you take the car to a Ferrari mechanic for an inspection, he tells you, "Every part of this car is virtually identical to a genuine Farrari, but it is not a Ferrari, it is a Fellari and is made in Taiwan. Only a fully factory-trained Ferrari mechanic knows the difference."
With the state of the art today of synthetic diamonds, ant the cost for which they can be had, the diamond trade is one of mankind's (and DeBeers) greatest scams.
Well, the important thing is that there is no longer Colonial rule, right? I'm sure the non-elite Zimbabweans would agree, the ones that are still alive.
Shouldn't we be blindly bowing down at the alter of FREE TRADE?
Look at the labor, humanitarian, and environmental practices of some of our closest "friends" and "allies" who provide us with virtually all of our cell phones and computers, and a large percentage of our oil.
If there's a profit to be made, who cares about a country's crimes against its own people?
Rhodesia became Zimbabwe about the time I became a conservative. I remember thinking that as soon as Ian Smith, a decent man reviled by self-righteous liberals, was replaced by the usual murderous thugs of the politically correct race, the country would disappear from wine-and-cheese-party discourse. Of course, I was right...I remember asking an American friend what he thought should be done with white Rhodesians. He replied that they should be expelled, though without excessive violence. I then asked about all those born and bred there, suggesting that it was, after all, their homeland. He looked at me with a mixture of bewilderment and scorn before replying: "Africa isn't for white people." I asked him: "Uh, then what about America?" "That's different!" he exclaimed. Uhuh....
For all his diamond wealth, Mugabe still remains very black, very old and very much hated. He would rather not be any of those things but money will never buy him what HE really wanted all along. - to be a white man and respected.
