Africa Investigates - Mozambique's Gem Wars

Six years ago local hunters stumbled on one of the world's largest deposit of rubies in the northern province of Mozambique, a potential source of riches for a country in which much of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
The deposits are now being mined by a local company, Mwriti, in partnership with a British company, Gemfields, which owns the luxury Fabergé brand and prides itself on the ethical sourcing of precious stones - "completely traceable from mine to market". Their joint venture, 75 percent owned by Gemfields, controls a concession that covers 340 square kilometres of land and promises to be hugely profitable.
But disturbing allegations have emerged that threaten to cast a dark shadow over the project.
For this episode of Africa Investigates, Mozambican journalist Estacio Valoi joined forces with award-winning filmmaker Callum Macrae to find out more.
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[@chrismalaza930]

This is very painful as mozambican living out side of the country and hoping that one day things will get better in my country but nothing. In closing is that the politicians don't love our country it's all about corruption

[@vutivingobeni4158]

I was gonna say. Our governments are scared of the white man. They don't act in the best interests of the people. These guys got the power from the government.

[@ntwanatwakwa5007]

The truth is that most land in Mozambique with potential for minerals is already divided between government officials. multinational company will always take advantage in any situation especially if the local officials are corrupt. There is no easy solutions to this situation before it gets worse and the centralized government that is too far from the locals but the truth is that people will be forced to pick up arms and protect what is their own.

[@joachimligwa5424]

Have heard some swahili words at 9:02 Awesome😇😇😇

[@mamadoualioubarry3016]

it's my area i know montepuez very well and it rubi mine of namanhumbir.

[@ajwardakram2267]

It's really nice to hear.whats your mobile number will contact you

[@camloff]

I am so sad for the great Mozambique Cabo Delgado people. I lived and know Mocimboa da Praia and Mueda as a civilian. What is happening is terrible there. Who can help them? Not the government of course at Maputo. Money and corruption are the problems ....

[@nevillethomas1525]

Mozambique's emergency service warned there could be more victims, trapped under the vast waste pile in Hulene. "The information we received from local authorities is that the number of people living in those houses exceeds the number of deaths recorded, so work is still ongoing to see if there are any other deaths," said spokesman Leonilde Pelembe. The rubbish mound destroyed five homes and rescue teams were still searching through the wreckage to find survivors, he added. "I live in this neighborhood because I have nowhere to go. Had the government told me to go to another place to live, I would have left here," said local resident Maria Huo. Her family home was partially destroyed and her son injured in the landslide, she said. "It's been more than 10 years that the dump should have been closed because it's full -- but they still continue to pile trash on the trash. The consequence is this," said Teresa Mangue, a neighborhood leader. Heavy rain has been falling on Maputo since Sunday, causing flooding, damaging homes and deluging roads and schools.

[@gildochichongue4093]

É uma grande injustiça.

[@korro5870]

This is really sad. Where are the well educated ones who are from this village and live in the city or who lived in overseas. This is a fight that can only be successful if villages work together. These poor people are stuck in the vicious cycle thats why they are easily fooled year after year. I am sure there are some people from this village who made it directly to some areas and had good jobs who can fund for lawyers to fight for their interests.

[@lolipeppaislandgirl]

Gemfield give the people what you promised them

[@alriyamy613]

Minha terra gloriossa

[@unboxingdoomdays5949]

Stop buying the gem from the company

[@abelmaseko4040]

I own the Machubo/Macandza/Calanga land in Mozambique, my great grand father Folichi Macandza fought three wars and got to own this land, one day with my own money I'll build a school and hospital for people in this community

[@ahmedomerismail7730]

African people must fight theirs rights in their own country

[@atifrana5470]

Shame on Mozambique Government and those companies..you must spend on poor people of Mozambique.

[@malrovinpierre8974]

Time to take back what the Almighty has reserved for INI in the lands that INI was given, FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE WE MUST FIGHT, NOT WITH BOMBS NOR GUNS,BUT WITH HEART, MIGHT AND UNIVERSAL RIGHTS, SELAH

[@FofXequalsYnot]

😳Gemstone worth more than human life😳...smh

[@UknwWhu]

Yes they have made largesse promises, but that does not detract from the fact that those promises should have been met by the African government years ago. Gemfields should be adding on what the government built not starting by from scratch

[@spanishjo4282]

Who has the power who own the gems and this is the hard truth!

[@harrisonwandera9184]

Slavery, oppression, and neocolonialism will never end in Africa. Where did we go wrong??!

[@LimitlessVibrations]

Check "22:11" You can cleary see in the CEO'S face that he's lying by blinking and his breathing becomes faster while his heartbeat speeds up.

[@pedrochissale5261]

Very sad,,,, unfortunatly is the reality in my country, all over the mining projects there is always sad things like this,, they come and take away all the resources,, and left no benefty to the population

[@levettp]

+Pedro Chissale For thousands of years you were too pathetic to take out the resources yourselves and instead rather engaged in civil war. Now foreigners come and invest in Mozambique and you complain that they not throw hands full of money at you. Typical of why Africans will always suffer.

[@ribeirvb]

Are you blind or you just don't want to see, man? The mining company's security guys in cooperation with the local police are KILLING "illegal" miners for trying to mine in a land that has naturally belonged to them. Besides, you say "invest in Mozambique" as if the money was actually staying in the country and being re-invested in local communities. You condescending food! Go get an education!

[@johngoosen1962]

Paying tax, employing people has no benefit to the Local communities, why did the village elder not say where the head piece of the water well pump went? Stolen by locals or taken away by the Mining company because the Locals carry on with illegal mining? There are reasons for these things... The school built, is that what the locals wanted, How did their school look before that one was built? was there one?Very one sided reporting!!!

[@Peraj82]

Are you one of the people of the company or just a normal Troll? That company is ordering the security to shoot the miners (as was told by the police) + The company is not doing anything for the people but removing them from their homes and villages...

[@johngoosen1962]

Unlike you I am not blind, so call me a Troll, cal me a capitalist, racist, classicist, but open your eyes as you are not getting the whole story!

[@nevillethomas1525]

At least 17 people have been killed and several others injured in Mozambique's capital when a 15-meter pile of garbage collapsed due to heavy rain and buried seven houses, officials say. The collapse happened at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) in the impoverished Hulene neighborhood, which is around 10 kilometers from the center of Maputo. The houses were built illegally and authorities had previously asked the residents to leave, officials said. Torrential rain is thought to have caused the loose waste to shift and crash down on the shacks, trapping the occupants who were sleeping at the time of the incident on Sunday night.

[@spanishjo4282]

Money is not everything and if I am the CEO of the company, I will built school and drinking system for them. Doing good deed is the key and not just ruby

[@muziwesley5250]

Oh Afrika please stand up stand up

[@Mercito]

This rubies are curse to my people shame on Mozambique govment

[@gushung0]

You say it bothers you and you didn’t hear about it but, have you done anything to find out more or shut it down because you know what’s going on now? NO! Liar 🤥!

[@JoseMartinez-bh1ng]

Esos que están minando ilegalmente son igual que los quaqueros en Colombia que minan sin autorización. Suerte que no están en Colombia por que los jefes de Esmeraldas en Colombia matan a gente que están minando ilegal o cosechando otras cosas en esas tierras. El mundo de gemologia es más complejo que simplemente buscando una piedra. Tienen que saber cortar la piedra o conocer alguien que sabe cortar la piedra y convertirla en joyería. Si alguien quiere ser capacitado en minería o en artesanía puede hacerlo. El problema es que la gente se quieren volver rico en 2 días sin hacer el trabajo adecuado. El juego de gemas es de largo plazo. Al fin arriesgan su vida con pena de muerte consiguiendo ganancias mínimas por su desesperación de convertirse rico rápido. Así no es..

[@ciprianomossuelamuchaiacol639]

Quem venteu essas terras a esses Europeus?

[@metsakarhu7416]

this is problem from America

[@anselmochizenga2376]

Blood and died of native people, is that price of development?

[@janaoh5785]

The government should distribute the wealth earned from mining to the people. The company bought the rights to those gems. Who sold it to them?

[@lolipeppaislandgirl]

Those poor black people have robbed and sucked dry of there wealth. ....

[@rebeccanakato852]

This is African soil but the England has taken over their land and property

[@salieujallow5641]

They are not illegal miners .the gem belongs to the people of mozambique

[@danw3735]

There's always going to be sour people who can't find any gems in this new age gold rush - of course there are going to be sour stories. Some win and some lose. I'm sure there are just as many Africans that are making money from the rubies as there are ones that are missing out. This is the story of the ones that are missing out. There are two sides to every story.

[@atifrana5470]

Take guns and fight against them for your rights

[@nickyapenahier9214]

Atif Rana the birth of terrorism but the west doesn’t understand why

[@unboxingdoomdays5949]

Shame on UK

[@olivertonge9398]

These campanile's see these villagers as easy pickings ,because of the poverty the people are desperate..

[@TheZacdes]

"NO MATURE CONTENT"...Says it all:/

[@ragnarandersson2866]

This white ouwn M.commpany. have baad filosofi...kick them aut from your cantry..because they dont respect the rules.

[@witwolfdebruin]

Investigate but no action till date! They need outside Army and weapons to help them selves

[@ciprianomossuelamuchaiacol639]

Essa e a primeira progaria total,a corrupcao ,quem sao esses novos colonizadores de que Pais eles saiem? Voces nao podem terem medo,sobre esse crime.

[@matthew22nz]

The mining company is attempting to extract the gems in a safe and orderly manner, after spending great expense to develop the infrastructure necessary to do so, and are now paying huge amounts to the Mozambican government in the form of concession rights and royalties (they are the country’s largest contributor of tax revenue) which benefits all Mozambicans, along with providing stable employment to many . The local ‘independent miners’ are simply trying to exploit the situation for their own personal gain, in a manner that is unsustainable, inefficient, dangerous, detrimental to the rest of the local economy, and ultimately contributes nothing towards the country’s development . These rubies belong to all Mozambicans, not just the ones who had the good fortune to be born next to a mine.

[@nickyapenahier9214]

matthew22nz how stupid . Who owns these stones

[@BarryAllen..]

Out of all the Africa Investigates, this was the weakest in terms of a positive outcome.

[@nickyapenahier9214]

Imagine if you give these people guns

[@seanow8180]

Why do you think ISIS is gaining a foothold there? Those without nothing on their own land will kill and destroy rather than watch others claim their resources while their children starve.

the British exploiting poor people,

[@jmcmestre]

As usual the real truth in Africa is always conveniently swept under the carpet and the fingers are always on the ready to pin point "others" as the culprits. This mining company has a mining concession from the Mozambican government and as such pay taxes and as such have a duty and responsibility to protect it from illegal miners. Shouldn't the investigators interview local and governmental authorities to find out what exactly are they doing to prevent such illegal and clandestine operations from taking place ? Surely they should be held responsible and accountable and deserved to be heard. Instead, the Al Jazzera investigators very conveniently opted for the easy option by implying blame on the legal mining entity rather than the real culprits.

[@nickyapenahier9214]

Only profitable for the West

[@salieujallow5641]

Mozambican people are not benefiting from the gem

[@siymo]

What is that language

[@kipemejunior3306]

+siymo i heard some swahili words.

[@ceressustainability2189]

+siymo I am sure its Portuguese. I maybe wrong so I stand collected just in case. Swahili is also spoken locally.

[@juliusmaehlich3138]

The language is Portuguese.

[@AndresBarba22]

i hope they doome with brexit

[@jasonjared6325]

🇬🇧👽🇺🇸

[@epifaniodorosariobalane6024]

Exploiting africans its not that bad but at least you english should do it with measurement

[@julielilote3496]

Arabs should invade Europe Allah ukbar