By triangulating a phenomenological approach with interviews and observations, the study explores how Chiadzwa became a highly contested but hugely creative space in which a rich new ‘vocabulary’ was forged, that reflected the vagaries and complexities of life in the midst of a diamond rush, even as Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis worsened deeply around it. The article shows that as the illegal diamond miners at Chiadzwa were ‘digging for diamonds’ they were also, ‘wielding new words’, suggesting these phenomena are explicable through notions of ‘antilanguages’ and ‘antistructure’. Its aim is to analyse the linguistic strategies involved in these illegal miners' emergent ‘language’, and its socio-economic and political functions in the milieu of Chiadzwa. The government’s claim that the discovery was actually quartz was met with suspicion. The study focuses on the period 2006 to 2008 when the Zimbabwean crisis was at its worst, and the diamond rush was at its peak. A Diamond Rush in South Africa, Born of Desperation and Distrust Get link Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Other Apps JWhen rumors of a diamond find hit social media, thousands of jobless South Africans rushed to a sleepy village. This study delineates and explicates the new linguistic terms and expressions that rapidly developed among this new, transient community of illegal diamond panners at Chiadzwa, in order to describe their activities, experiences and interactions. Chiadzwa became a dynamic site of struggle where new cultural and social identities, languages and consumption patterns emerged in a remarkably short space of time. Propelled by Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis, soon after this discovery of diamonds was made public, the Chiadzwa diamond fields were invaded by an avalanche of illegal diamond miners from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. However, the 2006 discovery of diamonds at Chiadzwa in Marange, near Mutare, brought about a dramatic change to Zimbabwe's mining landscape. This body of literature has provided a broad conceptual overview of ASMs place in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as demonstrated convincingly that for. In post-colonial Zimbabwe, before 2006, two diamond mines operated, at River Ranch in Beitbridge and at Murowa in Zvishavane, which both had Kimberley Process Certification. We also discuss the unofficial “diamond rush”' under way in KwaZulu-Natal, where more than 1,000 fortune seekers have flocked to the village of KwaHlathi in search of what they believed to be diamonds after a discovery of unidentified stones in the area.ĭespite these stones having not been authenticated and that mining them without proper authorisation is illegal, hundreds of desperate South Africans have been spending their days trying to gather as many of these “precious” rocks as they can.The history of diamond mining in Africa is long, complex and heterogeneous.
What do the ANC's recent money woes mean for the party? A Diamond Rush in South Africa, Born of Desperation and Distrust Africa KWAHLATHI, South Africa Sbusiso Molefe stretched the pickax high above his head and hacked into the clumpy black dirt around his feet. This after scores of disgruntled staffers took to the streets at the party’s headquarters, Luthuli House in the Johannesburg CBD, on Tuesday to air their g rievances over late and unpaid salary payments, provident funds, medical aid and other “unfair” labour practices. This week on Sunday Times Politics Weekly, we discuss the ruling party's shrinking purse. It's no secret that SA's economy has been under strain and it seems that everyone - from paupers to politicians - have been trying to recover.
This week's top political stories have revolved around the rand.
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