By Never Kadungure
They locked him up in remand prison for nearly 40 days on dubious charges of communicating falsehoods but now diamond rights activist Farai Maguwu has landed the top job coordinating the technical team of the Local Focal Point (LFP) for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
Maguwu as the Director of the Centre for Research and Development was instrumental in documenting human rights abuses by the army in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Unhappy at his work Mugabe’s regime concocted charges that he had published falsehoods ‘prejudicial to the state.’
But now Zimbabwe’s Civil Society has made sure Maguwu continues his brave work. The Local Focal Point (LFP) for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme will be headquartered at National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO) and coordinated by Maguwu.
The job of the LFP is to lobby and carry out advocacy work around natural resources, promote dialogue and engagement between business, civil society and the government on socio-economic matters affecting the country in the exploration of diamonds.
The KPCS is a tripartite mechanism that involves business, government and civil society. It is designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources that are free of conflict fuelled by diamond production. The certification scheme aims at preventing “blood diamonds” from entering the mainstream rough diamond market.
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