Open Letter to the President for the Recognition of Diamond Cutting and Polishing Students
On behalf of the 25 Diamond Cutting and Polishing students from the Zimbabwe School of Mines Students we are writing this letter to raise our concerns about our Diamond Cutting and Polishing Program which was started by a company in Partnership with Zimbabwe School of Mines.
The program was set out under the ZIMASSET aim of value addition and beneficiation and 25 students were sent to China to study Diamond Cutting and Polishing process in order to help our country in processing its own Diamonds.
It is with great concern and discomfort that we have discovered Zimbabwe is going to send Diamond rough to Botswana for processing even though we are equipped with these skillsets and are currently unemployed. Due to our lack of experience it is difficult to get employment elsewhere thus we look to you the facilitators (the Government) for the opportunity to prove our worth and be integrated into the industry.
According to the plan and contracts given to us after completing this program, both the company and the
government had promised to give us jobs after the study, helping us start our careers in the industry and utilize our skills. But however since the return of these students in June 2017 nothing has been done to assure us of these jobs and no communication has been made between the school, company or government and the students. This has more than raised concerns and panic among us students who are left with uncertainty about their future. All of us having our own stories to tell, one thing was unanimous that we all were given the assurance that this was a step in the right direction Career wise and that we were going to be pioneers of this promising industry.
As a group we are kindly asking for recognition from the government in regards to the skills that we acquired from the Major Diamond Cutting and Polishing player that is China and we believe that our talent, determination and hunger to do what we know best are key in helping with the development of our Country if given a chance to show our skills. We are qualityoriented recent college graduates and managed to accrue nearly a year of work experience with on the job training at Chow Tai Fook (Pvt) Ltd Diamond Factory, one of the largest diamond Companies in China.
So we we’d like to claim this opportunity that has come in front of us and offer our services to the new initiative, whether the diamonds get polished locally or outside but we want to be a part of this. Therefore, make us part of the system we want to work with you on a tangible way forward.
We look forward to a favourable response from you.
Diamond Cutting and Polishing Graduates
This article first appeared in the Mining Zimbabwe Magazine March 2018