The security sector and the plunder of Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds

The ‘goat mentality’ in practice

Bibliographic Data

ID12337448
AuthorsG Maringira (0000-0001-8071-641X, Schlumberger (Ireland), corresponding author), Tyanai Masiya (0000-0002-0292-0674)
Year2016
Volume25
Issue4
Pages368-377
Publication date2016-09-29
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Security Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1024-6029 • E-ISSN: 2154-0128
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10246029.2016.1225587
OpenAlexW2525978812
LanguageEN
Citations received12

While the human rights impact of the deployment of state security agencies in the Chiadzwa diamond fields has been explored, it is important to continue to expose the increasing tendency within the sector to take public resources that should be protected by the state and used for the benefit of the people and channel them for personal gain. The security sector stranglehold of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has facilitated the siphoning of Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of individual security personnel. The unfolding sociopolitical crisis in Zimbabwe has also meant that these security personnel have been deployed beyond conflict zones and into traditionally civilian domains, with dire consequences for the public purse. With this in mind, it is asserted that these issues have driven state security agencies to enrich themselves through what is termed in this article as a ‘goat mentality’. The article thus explores the ways in which state security agencies have been deployed and gone on to promote personal enrichment in the Chiadzwa diamond fields

Front (military · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public sector · Sociology · State (computer science · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Engineering · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Public Administration

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub