Initially the police demands were modest, and often the bribes paid were small. According to one miner who spoke to Human Rights Watch: When the police started guarding the diamond fields in Chiadzwa, we could easily bribe them. At the end of 2006, we used to gain access to the fields simply by giving the police a pack of cigarettes, a can of beer or mutsege (roasted nuts). At one time we even devised a plan with three gwejelines (women) in my team where the women had sex with the six police on guard and, while they attended to the police, we were digging for diamonds.46 With time, the police began to charge more. At each checkpoint, police began to extort payments of at least US$5, or the equivalent in South African rand, for miners to proceed onwards. A miner who first went to Chiadzwa in September 2007 told Human Rights Watch: Although police usually demanded US$5 at checkpoints, the bribes would increase as one got closer to the field. We paid the largest bribes to police stationed at the edge of, or inside the diamond fields. For middlemen sometimes the bribes could be as much as US$100 to access the diamond fields.47 Another miner told Human Rights Watch that the police would not turn people away if they did not have the required fee; they just gave preference to those with the correct fee and gave them more time on the fields. Those with insufficient amounts would be allowed a very short period of time, sometimes only 20 minutes on the field.48 One local miner explained the working relationship with the police: In the evening we would approach the police and say, “We want to work the fields tonight.” The police would then tell us if it was fine... [and] they would tell us to pay them for access to the fields. When it was time for us to leave the field, the police often fired shots in the air, and we would stop working 46 Human Rights Watch interview with local miner V.J., Mutare, February 22, 2009. 47 Human Rights Watch interview with local miner V.C., Mutare, February 19, 2009. 48 Ibid. Diamonds in the Rough 20