- By Watmore Makokoba
The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) has condemned the killing of a 66-year-old artisanal miner in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, calling for the immediate withdrawal of military forces from the area and a complete overhaul of diamond governance in Zimbabwe.
Tafadzwa Chamatumba, a miner from Chief Marange’s area, died on 7 February 2025 following alleged assaults while in custody at Mashukashuka base in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. According to a police memorandum dated 8 February 2026, the circumstances point to excessive use of force, torture, and a blatant disregard for human dignity.
“This tragic death is not an isolated incident. It 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,” CNRG said in a statement released Tuesday.
The Harare-based research and advocacy organisation, which promotes citizen participation in natural resource governance, noted that the continued military presence in Marange has normalised violence and impunity, particularly against poor and marginalised artisanal miners who are criminalised rather than formalised.
CNRG reminded the Zimbabwean government of its November 2008 commitment to a phased withdrawal of the army from Marange under a Joint Work Plan agreed with the Kimberley Process (KP). The plan stipulated that the army would be withdrawn in phases and replaced by police forces.
“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is a reminder and a wake-up call to all stakeholders in the diamond value chain to ensure that the army is permanently withdrawn from Marange and replaced by the Police,” the organisation stated.
This latest incident has also reignited criticism of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which CNRG argues has failed to prevent human rights abuses due to its narrow definition of conflict diamonds. Under current KP rules, conflict diamonds are defined only as those used to fund rebel movements against legitimate governments, excluding systematic abuses committed by state and private security actors.
CNRG, which works under the banner of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, has long advocated for expanding this definition to include human rights violations perpetrated by state forces.
“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 organisation said. “It also exposes the limitations of global certification schemes that continue to sanitise violence by narrowing the definition of what constitutes a ‘conflict diamond’.”
The organisation expressed solidarity with community members protesting against the pattern of violence in the area and called on the government to de-escalate growing tensions.
CNRG is calling for four urgent actions: immediate demilitarisation of the Marange diamond fields, with military forces operating under Operation Hakudzokwi replaced by civilian police; independent and transparent investigations into Chamatumba’s killing and broader abuses, with perpetrators brought to justice; recognition and protection of artisanal miners’ rights and livelihoods through inclusive formalisation models; and reform of the Kimberley Process definition of conflict diamonds to include systematic human rights abuses linked to diamond extraction, regardless of whether they are committed by state or non-state actors.
“As we have consistently stated as civil society, KP member states must support reforms to expand the definition of conflict diamonds to include systematic human rights abuses, torture, and killings linked to diamond extraction, whether committed by state or non-state actors,” CNRG said.
The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, have been at the centre of controversy for nearly two decades, with human rights organisations documenting numerous abuses against artisanal miners operating in the area.
