Zenith Security guards employed at diamond miner Petra Diamonds’ Williamson mine, in Tanzania, allegedly deliberately swapped rubber projectiles with metal shot in their weapons, causing serious harm to local residents shot on the company’s concession, UK corporate watchdog RAID said in a statement on March 25.

Moreover, the watchdog said the guards were also issued with metal projectiles in contrast to what senior management said was its policy.

The information uncovered by RAID was part of ongoing research into alleged human rights abuses at the Williamson mine since UK-listed company Petra Diamonds took ownership in 2009.

In total, RAID says it has found evidence of ten killings and 50 injuries of local residents by security personnel, with the most recent assault having occured in late December 2020.

International standards provide that use of force by security personnel should not exceed what is strictly necessary and must be proportionate. The intentional lethal use of firearms is permissible only if strictly unavoidable to protect life, RAID emphasised. 

It cited Amnesty International, which says the use of traditional rubber bullets, which contain multiple projectiles in a single shell, should be prohibited as they are “notoriously inaccurate, indiscriminate and arbitrary” and “have no legitimate law enforcement use.”

RAID said it was unaware on what grounds the issuing of metal projectiles to Zenith guards could be justified.

RAID noted that Petra had said that guards were only “authorised” to use rubber bullets.

Moreover, it noted that Petra said that its security systems “play an indispensable role in upholding and protecting human rights” and that it has in place “robust internal systems” to manage human rights issues.

In a separate statement, Petra acknowledged the report published by RAID.

“As previously stated, Petra takes the allegations of human rights abuses at the Williamson mine extremely seriously.  Petra has committed to provide feedback on the investigation being carried out by an external adviser, in conjunction with our legal advisers; the scope of this investigation already includes the allegations mentioned by RAID in their report,” the company said.

It added that the company had taken a number of actions to address the situation at Williamson, including the replacement of the third-party security contractor at the mine, as its announcement on February 9 stated.