Illegal diamond panning is causing severe pollution of rivers in Zimbabwe's diamond-rich Chiadzwa region, the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT) reports.

CCDT spokesman Lovemore Mukwada, who was attending a workshop held by the African Initiative on Mining, Environment, and Society, said that ever since illegal diamond panners had arrived in Chiadzwa, the area's rivers had developed serious siltation problems. Community activists were questioning whether the water was still safe to drink, he added.

Mukwada also criticized the legal diamond mining operations in the area, saying that diamond extraction was polluting the air. Mukwada said that the diamond mining companies were "insensitive" to the community's needs, a sentiment that was echoed by a representative of Chiadzwa, Tichafara Kusena, who claimed that the mining companies did not consult with the local population on their corporate social responsibility programs.

"These companies give us what they want and do not try to find out our needs," NewsDay quoted Kusena saying.