MUTARE 'THE DIAMOND' CITY OF ZIMBABWE | CHIMANIMANI | VUMBA | HONDE VALLEY |MANICALAND PROVINCE |

Mutare is my home city where I was born and raised. I have decided to do a tribute video because during the period of 2006 to 2010, things happened in Mutare that only happen in the movies. I was not privileged to be a witness of these times, as I was abroad, but i have first hand accounts from people who lived in Mutare during this time, and some still do.

The discovery of diamonds 60 km outside the city, led to thousands of people descending on Mutare to do business. Mutare changed overnight. People were walking around with bags of money, prices went up for everything. Mutare became expensive for the outsiders who couldn't afford, but the residents didn't feel the prices. Mutare became known as 'Diamond City', how many cities and towns out there can have this title, and it being real?

Benefits of the Diamonds - People became wealthy over night, it brought incomes to families. Mutare became alive, buyers from all over the world came, investment came. The standards of living was raised for everyone in the city. People brought houses, property, cars etc. People traveled to other destinations, Harare, Bulawayo, Beira, Johannesburg, Cape Town etc. A lot of foreigners came to Mutare, a lot of cultural exchange. Lots of social benefits, monetary benefits etc.

Negative Effect of the Diamonds - A lot of money brought a lot of negative behaviors. A lot of infidelity, a lot of prostitution, a lot of broken marriages/families, HIV infections spiked. Young girls were attracted to the lifestyle as young as 14. Corruption increased, bribes, conning, deceiving, blackmailing, over diamonds. Everybody wanted to have the upper hand, and people were very selfish.

Now the Chiyadzwa Diamond Field is mined by companies linked to the government, Chinese, Russians. The whole area has been fenced and off limits. The diamond collected now, are transported to the capital Harare, to be processed. So they have not even created jobs in Mutare by processing them where they come from. There has been no development in Mutare since the discovery of the diamonds in 2006, now it's 2020 going on 21, roads are still not fixed etc. It is now back to just being plain old Mutare, the city on Mozambican boarder.

The astonishing thing is that these diamonds were always there in plain sight and people in this area didn't realize. Now their area is all dug up and the people have all been displaced and relocated to Odzi and other areas. Some relocations go terribly, you may be relocated to an area with different terrain to what you are used to. This is very important if you are dependent on subsistence agriculture for food. So lives were changed and families from Chiyadzwa were separated.

Hopefully one day Mutare and its residents will benefit again, from the diamonds in their backyard!!!

Music by IFinton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt5__3-5Pdc
https://ifinton.com/

Видео MUTARE 'THE DIAMOND' CITY OF ZIMBABWE | CHIMANIMANI | VUMBA | HONDE VALLEY |MANICALAND PROVINCE | канала Sinyoro Abroad