It's International Women's Day:What must Zimbabwean women #BeBoldForChange about?

International Women’s Day

Today is international women’s day. Yesterday I walked in the suburbs of Mbare, Budiriro and Sunningdale and sought to speak with women to find out what International Women’s Day meant for them. I could not find any woman who was willing to speak with me. They all said they feared how I would use the information that I would get from them. They feared to speak about what they felt about International Women’s Day neither did they want to speak about whether or not they were aware of this day as women. I wondered whether their refusal to speak to me was because I was a stranger but then it just dawned on me that if women wouldn’t open up and speak with me, a fellow sister on such simple things, how free are they really to speak out about fundamental issues related to broader outlook of women’s rights as a group let alone confront duty bearers. The theme #BeBoldForChange couldn’t have come at a better time, especially in our Zimbabwean context.

The common thing about all these women who I approached was that they were fetching water from boreholes. In a resource rich country like Zimbabwe, where there are 40 known economically exploitable minerals, women mustn’t be struggling to get access to realise their constitutional rights related to social services like safe, clean and portable water. More often than not, tax is an issue that is not easily linked to the economic disempowerment and impoverishment especially of grassroots women. Although there are many sources by which government can collect taxes and convert them into public goods and services, the  Zimbabwe Agenda For Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation, the economic blueprint of government recognises the mining sector as a key revenue sector. The Africa Mining Vision recognises that mineral resources can lead to sustainable broad based economic delivery and provision of social services. In neighbouring Botswana, we have a testimony of how diamond mining revenue has led to development and provision of high quality services for citizens.

It is important to also examine tax and mineral revenue transparency issues as women’s rights and gender justice issues. Last year we heard how Zimbabwe “lost” $15 billion in mining revenue. Zimbabwean mining companies were named in the Panama papers on illicit financial flows and tax evasion through structures in tax havens and analysis were made that this could be how $15 billion was “lost”. Every year, the Auditor General has raised issues on embezzlement and abuse of public funds by ministers yet these many perpetrators walk Scot free. At some point the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority had to repay some royalties taxes it had collected from ZIMPLATS due to a stabilisation clause in ZIMPLATS mining contract see here.   Despite all the above, the mining sector still remains shrouded in secrecy and devoid of Parliamentary oversight when decisions of who to extract, when, where and how much of what minerals will be extracted are made. Yet these mining contracts determine the levels of mineral tax revenue and ultimately the amount of resources that are available for social service delivery. analyse the impact of harmful tax incentives like stabilisation clauses and tax holidays on women especially in the mining and energy sectors where huge capital funds are injected.  Earlier on this year VAT was introduced on basic good which women tend to purchase which could effectively mean that women would end up paying more indirect taxes and carry a heavier tax burden.

What then must Zimbabwean women #BeBoldForChange about? As Zimbabwean women we must #BeBoldForChange and fight for mining contract transparency including energy contract transparency. We must demand inclusive participation of women in key decision making structures along the mining value chain, not just an ‘insertion’ of women into these structures but a consideration of women's needs and interests. We  must  #BeBoldForChange  demand an end to tax havens and fight for stronger parliamentary oversight in Public Finance Management. We must expect no less in political party manifestos as we approach elections and when we vote we must consider all these issues above.

Given my experience yesterday, much still needs to be done to build the necessary boldness in women for them to #BeBoldForChange.  Last year I celebrated with women in the diamond mining region who were bold enough to build their agency to demand their rights, voice and power against pollution of Save and Odzi Rivers by diamond miners. Together we did the #PledgeForParity in the diamond fields through campaigning for gender equality and parity along the diamond value chain. This year we hold a symposium on Gender and Extractives aimed at interrogating women's movement and building power and voice to dismantle structural aspects along mining sector that inhit women's participation. In this we aim to continue building the confidence of all women and to enhance public finance literacy for women among other things. 

To all Zimbabwean Women Happy International Women's Day Sisters! Kwatakabva Kure Kwatiri Kuenda Mutunhu (We have come from afar) The struggle continues. Aluta Continua!

Emerging questions from last week’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines’ tour of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company

This Blog is about my reflections on my fieldwork in Zimbabwe’s host mining communities and my interactions with other stakeholders in this sector. I will share my observations and insights on the challenges women face in their struggle to be heard and empowered along the mining value chain.

For two days, that is, on the 13^th and the 14^th of January 2017, members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines toured ZCDC and the Arda Transau Relocation Area. I had the privilege to be part of this tour.  Last year the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development formed the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to efficiently control, explore and mine alluvial and kimberlite diamonds in country. The parliamentary tour captures the interest that everyone in Zimbabwe has around ZCDC not just because ZCDC is a state owned enterprise conducting diamond mining but because of the general expectation that States should “lead by example” in upholding community rights and tenets of transparency and accountability in the mining sector. For me, this visit left more questions and provided little answers to the controversy surrounding diamond mining in Zimbabwe. These are the questions that all citizens must ask and indeed all women must ask. Women particularly not because diamonds are a woman’s best friend but because women bear the brunt of the negative environmental, social and cultural implications of diamond mining and they lose the most when revenue from diamond mining is lost through leakages.

A huge question regarding the status of ZCDC emerged in this visit. At the beginning of the tour, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development gave a background on the formation of ZCDC and indicated that the ZCDC is not a ‘successor’ of the former mining companies (Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Jinan, Diamond Mining Corporation (DMC), Anjin Investments, Gye Nyame, Marange Resources, Kusena Diamonds) but represents consolidation of the diamond fields. In essence, he said what was consolidated were the diamond fields not the diamond mining companies. If this is so, does this mean one special mining grant applies across the diamond fields and if so why is the ZCDC still dividing the diamond fields by portals in accordance with former mining companies’ fields? If indeed ZCDC is not a successor of the former mining companies does it mean that ZCDC has not taken over the assets of the former diamond mining companies because if ZCDC has taken over the former diamond miners assets it is deemed to be an amalgamation/consolidation of the companies? The question of past and present assets of ZCDC therefore becomes paramount, especially for women since it can show who is liable to compensate them for loss of livestock, loss of livelihoods through loss of biodiversity, environmental rehabilitation and liabilities to relocated community members who were promised irrigation schemes and compensation in 2011. Moreover, discussions with some members of the PPC indicate the predicament that the PPC has in playing oversight role as in some instances ZCDC indicates is a private limited company which cannot be subjected to parliamentary oversight as opposed to a government parastatal.

During the tour, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of ZCDC informed the members of the PPC that ZCDC was in the process of acquiring Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs).  The law does not permit the transfer of EIA Certificates from former diamond mining companies to ZCDC without the authority of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). What this means is that ZCDC was supposed to acquire its own individual EIAs before commencing operations. Failure to provide an EIA caused ZCDC to be issued with four orders and four tickets. When ZCDC was formed there was a general expectation that as a state-owned company it would take measures to respect and protect the rights of communities or people. It is known that the EIAs of the former diamond miners were not properly done as they did not capture essential environmental, social and cultural impacts. In any case many of the former mining companies were not complying with their stated EIA commitments. How then did ZCDC start operations without EIA certificates? What does it mean for the people’s right to a clean and safe environment if state-owned companies defy and contravene environmental laws? How effective is the EMA system of fining and giving orders to offenders?

The PPC tour revealed that only approximately 10% of the ZCDC mine workers were women. ZCDC acknowledged that this is an area which needed improvement but did not explain what it is that ZCDC is doing or would do to rectify this and identify barriers that are inhibiting women from being employed in the diamond sector. Does the ZCDC have a gender policy? Does ZCDC have specific skills transfer programs aimed at creating gender parity in its workforce? What technology is ZCDC using and are there any efforts by ZCDC to develop and adapt innovative technologies that are responsive to women’s needs?

During the tour we heard that ZCDC is acquiring vegetables and chickens (road runners) from the community as part of local content. We saw that ZCDC is hiring heavy earth moving machinery. ZCDC did not disclose whether it had bought its own machinery. ZCDC did not disclose who it is hiring the machinery from and how much it cost to hire the machinery. The secrecy shrouding former diamond miners’ operations was one of the reasons that government formed the ZCDC as a way to improve transparency in diamond mining. Undoubtedly many people, including myself expected that the ZCDC as a way of leading by example would voluntarily disclose which machinery it has bought; if there are any plans to buy any; the cost benefit analysis of hiring machinery as opposed to buying it; who it is hiring the machinery from and at what cost. Undoubtedly the local community, especially women need their capacity to be built so that women entrepreneurs can competitively supply the services and goods within the diamond value chain. Buying vegetables and road runners is a far cry from the local content aspirations contained in the Africa Mining Vision and our local Women’s Broad Based Economic Empowerment Framework.

 Yesterday’s Herald carried a story about Mbada Diamonds pricing scandal in which government owned 50%. Such pricing scandals and inconsistency of diamond production figures and contribution of diamond mining to national fiscus justified formation of the ZCDC. During the tour ZCDC provided a summary of production figures and carats sold. ZCDC must spearhead stakeholder interest for the resuscitation and implementation of the Zimbabwe Mining Revenue Transparency Initiative (ZMRTI) and encourage government to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

The PPC ended with a tour of Arda Transau Relocation Area. Local communities do not have strong communal title and the Mines and Minerals Act of 1961 prioritizes mining over other land uses, further weakening communities’ land rights. In December 2016 ZCDC relocated 23 families from Tinoengana Village in Chiadzwa. 3 families disputed the relocation in courts and refused to be relocated without adequate compensation see here.  During the tour ZCDC revealed it had paid undisclosed disturbance allowances to 18 of these 23 families. Interaction with some members of these families indicated that no disturbance allowance had been received as yet. The following questions arise from this; What are relocated families entitled to in terms of compensation/disturbance allowances? When must the compensation be paid? What is the standard of basic amenities that are required to be established at the relocation sites? Is it not forced consent to relocation if ZCDC is mining in community in people’s fields and at their homesteads? Can ZCDC mine in people’s homesteads and fields before it relocates them? If it does, is it not supposed to give food handouts pending relocation? Is ZCDC liable for promises for construction of an irrigation scheme for Arda Transau community made by former diamond miners?  

As the Chinese proverb says: One who asks a question can be a fool for five minutes one who doesn’t ask is a fool forever.