‘The World Against Us’: The Vulnerable Group, Marange Diamond Mines and the Corporate Social Responsibility Question

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the business world. The reason is that while some companies readily fulfill their obligations to society, others either under-declare their profits so as to keep back a substantial part of it, or fail to do so outright, despite reaping so much from their host communities. These obligations, as little as it may be, goes a long way in ameliorating the suffering, poverty and underdevelopment of the populations rendered vulnerable by the activities of the corporate world. These businesses and their co-conspirators, rather than fulfill their CSR, even extract more from the people by underpaying its labour force, subjecting it to unconducive mining environment, and promulgating dehumanizing and obnoxious policies. This deprives the people of their socio-economic, political and environmental rights, and exacerbates the conditions of these vulnerable populations, among which are women and children, girls, the elderly, the sick, and the malnourished. Against this backdrop, this study examines how the activities and inactivity of the Marange mines have affected these groups. This is carried out through the review of extant literature, online and telephone interviews, as well as local and international media reports. The study revealed, among other things, the issues of human right abuses which although the government and other stakeholders, including the international community, are aware of, there is lack of political will to address these issues, as a result of which there has been continual suffering among these vulnerable groups of people. Finally, the paper suggests some plausible ways of meeting this plethora of challenges.