THE killing of artisanal miner, Tafadzwa Chamatumba (66), from Chief Marange, who died following alleged assaults while in custody at Mashukashuka Police Base in the Chiadzwa diamond fields on February 7, 2026, has rekindled debate over human rights abuses in the Marange diamond fields.
According to a leaked police memorandum dated February 8, 2026, Chamatumba was allegedly killed by a soldier stationed in Marange during an interrogation at the base.
Human rights abuses in Marange began in 2006 with the recovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa, which had seemed to have transformed the lives of thousands of villagers and setting off intense global concern.
The region, previously rural and impoverished, suddenly became the focus of the country’s largest unregulated gemstone rush.
Initially, local people flocked to the fields to mine diamonds informally, hoping the discovery would bring jobs and community development.
But as the potential value of the finds became clear, State security forces stepped in, and the situation deteriorated drastically.
Violent seizure and militarisation
In late 2008, the Zimbabwe National Army carried out a violent takeover of mining activities in the diamond fields in an operation that left hundreds of villagers dead.
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Once in control, soldiers and police reportedly used force, intimidation and violence to dominate mining operations.
Villagers were forced to work in the fields under armed guard, sometimes alongside soldiers, with little or no pay.
Men, women, and even children as young as 10-17, were reported to be carrying ore and doing back-breaking work for long hours without reward.
Local residents reported beatings, torture, arbitrary arrests and harassment by security forces tasked with controlling the area.
There were also credible reports of degrading treatment and sexual abuse of women by police and soldiers as army checkpoints became opportunities for bribes and extortion, worsening the economic hardships of ordinary villagers.
Beyond physical abuse, the economic benefits of diamond mining — which communities had hoped would support education, health, and infrastructure — largely bypassed local people.
Instead, much of the revenue was diverted through corrupt networks, illegal syndicates and smuggling.
These abuses have continued over many years, sparking criticism from human rights groups that the diamond rush turned into a cycle of exploitation rather than development.
Thus, the tragic death of Chamatumba forms part of a long-standing and deeply troubling pattern of violence, abuse, and intimidation meted out against artisanal miners eking out a living in Marange.
Ironically, the sting operation being carried out by the military in Chiadzwa is dubbed “Operation Hakudzokwe”, which when loosely translated means “where you will go and never come back”.
For many residents of Chiadzwa, homes were seized or destroyed while their water sources and the environment were polluted and promises of compensation or resettlement did not materialise.
The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) says the circumstances around Chamatumba’s death, which were outlined in the police memorandum, point to excessive use of force, torture and a blatant disregard for human dignity.
It says the continued military presence in Marange diamond fields has normalised violence and impunity, particularly against poor and marginalised artisanal miners who it says are being criminalised instead of being formalised.
“This killing underscores structural failures in diamond governance in Zimbabwe, and the urgent need to confront the nexus between militarisation, extractive interests, and human rights abuses,” the CNRG says.
“It also exposes the limitations of global certification schemes that continue to sanitise violence by narrowing the definition of what constitutes a ‘conflict diamond’.”
CNRG says the government must immediately move to demilitarise operations in the Marange diamond fields.
“Furthermore, we also remind the Zimbabwe government that in November 2008, it committed to a phased withdrawal of the army from Marange.
“The Joint Work Plan agreed to between Zimbabwe and the Kimberley Process stated that the army would be withdrawn in phases.
“The continued use of torture and killings by the army in Marange is a reminder and a wake-up call to all stakeholders in the diamond value chain to ensure that the army is permanently withdrawn from Marange and replaced by the police.”
Billian Matambo, of the Marange Women’s Alliance, says killings by State agents in Marange are not new, noting that the police only acknowledged the killing of Chamatumba because people had protested and the murder could not be concealed.
“This is not the first time that we have seen someone being killed by soldiers deployed in Marange,” she says.
“We have been talking about the same problem all the time.
“There are many deaths which went unreported and were concealed.
“We have been calling for the demilitarisation of Marange for a long time.”
Matombo notes that security agents in Marange diamond fields are abusing the Protected Places and Areas Act to perpetrate untold atrocities against the Marange community.
“The Act says they must apply reasonable measures.
“I don’t think the measures being taken are reasonable.
“There are no reasonable measures in black and white to say if someone trespasses, this is the way he or she must be treated.
“So the soldiers and police make their own discretion. They have become the law unto themselves.”
Matombo says after a visit by a team from the Kimberly Process, the security agents only stopped setting dogs on people, but the brutality continued unabated.
“The government agreed that they were going to lessen their grip on the locals, yet human rights violations are continuing,” she says.
“The violations are not only restricted to killings. There are a lot of other human rights violations being perpetrated by the security agents.
“Women are being raped. They have become even more vulnerable and are living like they are in a jungle, being tortured on a day-to-day basis and we have nowhere to report to because the police are also perpetrators.”
She says efforts to follow up on human rights violations, especially against women perpetrated by the police and soldiers, often reach a dead end because the police officers who would have committed the offences are protected and sometimes transferred, making it difficult to trace them.
“They cover up for each other at the expense of women in the community.
“That’s why we are having high rates of teenage pregnancies in our area.”
The Zimbabwe Diamonds and Allied Mine Workers Union (ZDAMWU) says the killing of Chamatumba is disturbing, noting that artisanal miners play an important socio‑economic role and should be treated as key members of society, not as disposable or criminal by default
“What we can say is that every person in the mining value chain --- including artisanal and small‑scale miners and surrounding communities --- is a rights‑holder whose dignity and right to life must be respected at all times,” says ZDAMWU general secretary Justice Chinhema.
“We, therefore, call for a prompt, transparent and independent investigation into this death, with full accountability for any individuals or institutions found responsible, and effective protection for witnesses and the affected family.”
Need to change definition of ‘blood diamonds’
Chinhema says his union shares civil society’s concern that the current, very narrow definition of “conflict diamonds”, which focuses mainly on rebel movements fighting recognised governments, does not adequately capture situations where violence, torture or killings are linked to diamonds.
“We support efforts to reform that definition so that all diamond‑related violence is addressed, and so that diamonds from Zimbabwe and the region are associated with development, decent work and respect for human rights rather than fear and loss,” he says.
And the CNRG concurs: “CNRG draws attention to our work and long-standing advocacy under the banner of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, which has consistently called for reform of the Kimberley Process.
“The KP’s narrow definition of conflict diamonds, limited to rebel movements, has enabled systematic human rights abuses by state and private security actors to persist outside international scrutiny,”.
Why the Kimberley Process matters and why it is contested
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was created in 2003 with the goal of stopping the global trade in so-called “conflict diamonds” — diamonds that finance rebel groups fighting legitimate governments.
Under the current definition, a conflict diamond is specifically one used by rebel movements to fund armed conflict.
This narrow definition intentionally excludes human rights abuses committed by governments or other actors not engaged in armed insurgency.
This definition means that even when a State’s security forces violently control mining areas or commit systematic abuses, the diamonds they produce can still be certified as “conflict-free” under the Kimberley Process.
That’s exactly what happened with Zimbabwe’s Marange diamonds, which were certified and allowed onto the global market despite serious allegations of abuse.
Critics argue that this loophole undermines the ethical credibility of the system.
Zimbabwean activists and international human rights organisations have said that the Kimberley Process’s limited definition has made it possible for governments to commit violence around diamond mining without triggering sanctions or certification bans.
