ZANU PF UK BLOG: Zimbabwe Crisis; A Resource War

Zimbabwe - Caught up in a Resources War

Zimbabwe is a country well endowed with natural resources. These natural resources are linked to it being one of the last British colonies. The resources also explain its current standoff with Great Britain and the West. It is a relatively a small nation of about 13 million people with an annual budget of about $4 billion. To bring this into context, this budget should be compared against the British population of 63.7 million and an annual budget of $930 billion. It is the natural resources that draw the world’s attention to this very small nation.

Resources and Colonisation

When the British invaded Mashonaland, in 1890 it was through a company called the British Southern African Company. The emphasis is on the word “Company”. From the beginning the colonisation process was underpinned by an insatiable appetite for the natural resources. Modern day Zambia then known as Barotseland was bought from Chief Lewanika in 1889 for $19 000! The Royal Charter of 29/10/1889 which was granted to Rhodes by Queen Victoria transformed a bunch of mineral speculators into a Corporation. Whilst it was about an extension of the British Empire’s control and influence, it was primarily about resources. Thus Rhodes got a carte blanche control of Zimbabwe and Zambia to plunder resources at will.

Black Zimbabweans were forcibly moved into
Tribal Trust Lands

When the land north of the Limpopo did not yield as much mineral resources as was originally speculated, the Pioneer Column was disbanded and pursuant to an agreement made with them, they were allowed to peg off mining claims and farms. They were all rewarded with 3000 acres per head. Thus the Chartered Company was rich enough with the land they had taken by conquest to afford this parcelling out. But hold on, this was land was occupied. So what happened to the occupiers? They were displaced. And no compensation was ever paid. In this piece we are not going to focus on the land. We will focus on the depleting resources underneath the land. We will run the land question separately.

On 13 September 1923, the settlers through a referendum voted to be a self-governing colony with its own government. The Company was relieved of its governing responsibility. By 1965 it had amalgamated with Anglo-America forming a very large mining and farming conglomerate. The minerals which were being plundered then included:

Kadoma Gold
Hwange Coal
Zvishavane Asbestos
Kwekwe Iron Ore
Shurugwi Chrome
Bindura Nickel
Mberengwa Emeralds
Dorowa Phosphates
Mhangura Copper
Chegutu Platinum.

Of course now there diamonds, uranium and more minerals are being discovered by the day. The Great

The Great Dyke : A Rich Resource for Minerals

Dyke was discovered to contain 80% of different minerals found in the world. Most of these were and mainly are still mined by foreign owned companies. They are being exported as primary goods and processed elsewhere. This creates employment in the other countries and does not enhance the value chain in Zimbabwe. It does not benefit the local people much except as lowly paid employees. But these resources are not forever. They are depleting. If they run out what would Zimbabwe have to show for it?

Zim Asset Cluster 4: Value Addition and Beneficiation

This is why Zim Asset gives emphasis on its cluster 4 which is Value Addition and Beneficiation. This is because in most so called 3^rd world countries most large scale resource projects are foreign controlled and owned. Overwhelmingly, the output is exported. Africa will only develop and compete head to head with the rest of the world when there is a direct co-relationship between endowment with natural resources and industrialisation.

Resources and Conflict

Discovery of high value natural resources has been directly linked with instability and conflict. An upsurge in civil war and violence has been linked with the discovery of diamonds especially. Zimbabwe has been one of the major exceptions in that regard. Whilst there has been some controversy associated with the discovery and management of the diamonds at Chiadzwa in Marange, it did not adversely affect the stability of the nation.

DRC Resource War has been costly

Zimbabwe did not turn into another Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone or the DRC.

In some places resources have produced what is called the “Dutch Disease”. In short this refers to the decline in the manufacturing industry due to the discovery of natural resources. Issues of management of natural resources are now getting encoded into peace agreements. This is acknowledging how much of a fuel or conflict catalyst the natural resources are. An example of this is the Lome Agreement in which Foday Sankoh was empowered with the management of some of the diamond resources in Sierra Leone even though he was a rebel.

Effect of the Resource Endowment on Governance

Conflict around resources have weakened the state. It has been made subject to the machinations and manipulation of multinationals and by proxy, the parent countries of those multinationals. This can be evidenced in the DRC where the state has been weakened by the inter-community fights and serial rebellions mostly financed by corporations and resource mercenaries. Thus the state fails to assert itself in all its sovereign territory. In some cases warlords emerge. In Zimbabwe we have been fortunate that the state has managed to maintain full territorial integrity. The second effect on governance is the escalation of corrupt activities by greedy officials. Personal enrichment at the expense of the state and the nation as a whole becomes rampant. In Zimbabwe this has been evidenced by everyone from the President down to primary school pupils asking where the diamond money is. Of course mudded waters and opaque corporate practices ensure that one escapes scrutiny and accountability. Again, the state is weakened. When state institutions are weakened, human rights do suffer. The environment where these naturally occurring resources are being exploited suffers as well. But Zimbabwe has been an exception. One institution in Zimbabwe that has been quite effective is the Environment Management Agency (EMA).

Resource should mean life

The origins of the word “resource” is impinged in Old French. The original noun is resourdre which means to rise up or uplift. The Latin version is resurgere which means to the same thing. We can infer from the origins of the word that wherever natural resources are found the people’s lives should be uplifted or experience a forward surge. This has not been the case in Africa. ¾ of the world’s resources are consumed by 7 nations only. And they are still hungry for more. The empowerment policies such as ‘Indigenisation’ are meant to correct these wrongs where the people don’t benefit from their God given wealth. The tragedy of it all is that these resources are depleting. Foreigners cannot or should not be allowed to come and displace communities, exploit these resources whilst marginalising the communities that own them. The link between resources should be broken. The oil in the Middle East and some parts of Africa, diamonds in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The mineral rich DRC and recently the discovery of further mineral ores in Mozambique and an upsurge in conflict. All these will be curbed when that the African countries adopt a policy which says,