President presses for CSR and Sustainable Development at ADPA

President presses for CSR and Sustainable Development at ADPA

 

 

Brian Rungano Temba

 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday called for genuine Cooperate Social Responsibility and Sustainable and Environmentally friendly extraction of Diamonds from Africa’s Diamond mining industry.

 

President Mnangagwa said this yesterday while addressing the 9th ordinary meeting of the African Diamonds Producers Association (ADPA) at Elephant Hills, Victoria Falls.

 

This year’s meeting is running under the theme “Special Forum: Intra-African Dialogue on Rough Diamond Benefication and Value Addition.”

 

“As the peoples of Africa, we must move beyond narratives where it is questioned whether our rich natural resources are a blessing or a curse.

We must be awake and leverage on our natural resource endowment to build our beloved continent, brick by brick; stone upon stone and step by step.

 

“Furthermore given that our Diamonds are a finite resource, we must not accept trinkets but corporate social investment projects that have far reaching impacts on the productivity and quality of lives of benefiting communities. These must dovetail with our broader national and Continental development agenda, ” said President Mnangagwa

 

He also said that communities where mining takes place should be empowered to sustain their livelihoods long after mining activities have ceased operations.

 

“It is the host communities, which give the companies a social license to operate. As the government of Zimbabwe we take pride in the good relationships that exist between diamond mining companies and communities.

 

Additionally the growth of the sector should benefit downstream industries such as suppliers and customers alike,” said President Mnangagwa.

 

 

President Mnangagwa also emphasised on the need for Environmentally friendly operations on diamond mines.

 

“At a global level the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 enjoins you as a sector to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, with regards your mining operations are conducted.

As the African Diamond Producers, we have an obligation to guarantee sustainability in the manner we exploit our natural resources. This is good for us and is in our interest,” he added.