President Mugabe's Victory a New Problem for the United States

President Mugabe greets Namibian Foreign Affairs secretary Ambassador Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, while Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and head of the Sadc Election Observer Mission, Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, look on a, a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

President’s victory a new problem for US

Sunday, 15 September 2013 08:33
Tafadzwa Musarara
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail

The victory of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF in the July 31 harmonised elections has undoubtedly precipitated and inflicted a landslide of serious fissures in the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme. Cde Mugabe, renowned for taking head-on the bullying superpower state and other hosts of the so-called first world countries at international fora such as the United Nations, masterminded a serious diplomatic coup in the KPCS.

To date, the KPCS is divided into two; pro or anti-Mugabe and his gigantic diamond deposit in Marange.

Fundamentally, the decertification and recertification of diamond mining companies operating in Marange influenced the jurisprudence of the KPCS protocol.

President Mugabe is viewed by many in the KPCS as a victim who victimised his perpetrators. At the core of these fissures is the issue of the proposed reformation of the KPCS statutes, especially the definition of conflict diamonds, revenue transparency, human rights and the maintenance of international best practice.

The current fight is so huge, but Zimbabwe has become the de facto voice of weaker member states that are handicapped to oppose the neo-imperialist agenda of the United States of America and the European Union.

In the past five years, Cde Mugabe nudged his Zimbabwe delegation to fight hard for Zimbabwe to be allowed to exercise its United Nations-enshrined right of sovereignty of its natural resources in the KPCS.

The question is: will the newly-appointed Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa be able to lead from the front and defend Zimbabwe’s voice? Does Minister Chidhakwa have the political edge to stand up to the shenanigans of the shrewd US Department of Treasury and defend Zimbabwe’s turf? How tough-talking will Cde Walter Chidhakwa be?

Did President Mugabe put him in the deep end? Cde Chidhakwa has a corruption-free background and an impressive resume. Born in 1963, he did his primary and secondary education at Kutama and later obtained his Masters in Political Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and another Masters in International Relations at the University of Zimbabwe. He worked in the Ministry of Finance, appointed chief executive officer of the Export Processing Zones Authority in 1996 to 2007. He was elected Member of Parliament for Zvimba in 2008. He joined the liberation struggle in 1978.

One of the main issues that have remained topical in the KPCS is the conduct of member states in ensuring that there is transparency in the deployment of diamond receipts. The marauding civic society in the KPCS has written reports pregnant with malicious and false allegations of diamond plundering by senior Zanu-PF leadership. It seems President Mugabe’s decision to appoint Cde Chidhakwa was strategic in that regard. It is apparent that Cde Chidhakwa’s work has been well cut out for him. As the head of the Zimbabwe KPCS delegation, he is expected to continue fighting attempts by Western member states to cause a deformation of the KPCS through reformation processes. The proposed reformation is simply a deliberate effort to recertify Mbada Diamonds, Anjin, DMC and Marange.

This fight is heavily funded by De Beers who once exploited the vast Marange diamond deposit single-handedly. Commercially, it is dangerous for De Beers to let Marange Diamonds trade freely without them given access to buy by Zimbabwe. De Beers will lose control of its worldwide diamond cartel. The ghost of Cecil John Rhodes, founder of De Beers, remains charging in front of us, determined to control the biggest diamond deposit.

This will be the first time since the formation of De Beers to fail to control a diamond potent area. Speculation is rife within the KPCS that Zimbabwe has other several alluvial and Kimberlitic diamond deposits. In 2008, Canada put in a spirited fight to ensure that Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond mining operations were halted and put under KPCS monitoring.

Immediately, President Mugabe proposed a well-received joint working plan, which included, inter alia, the carrying of an Aero Magnetic survey of Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth. Surprisingly, Canada immediately volunteered to give a free grant of US$30 million to fund that exercise.

The intention of the Canadians was very apparent. They wanted to know the extent of Zimbabwe’s diamond deposit endowment in order to predetermine future diamond prices and ensure that their own mining companies get a stake.

The status quo in the KPCS is that the poor, but diamond-rich African countries continue to be subjected under a crude oversight by a Western-sponsored civic society led by one Alan Martin. Exportation of rough diamonds by African countries without value addition is never attended to as a challenge in the KPCS.

Powerful KPCS member states continue to profiteer from this skewed situation where a diamond is exported at US$50 per carat, but will cost 10 times more when it has been polished. Cde Mugabe, addressing delegates at the Victoria Falls International Diamond Conference, queried why the same phenomenon of raw exportation of minerals that is as old as the Scramble for Africa continues to subsist.

He challenged ministers of mines of African diamond producing countries to immediately establish diamond-polishing and cutting industries in Africa so that jewellery-selling hubs are found on the continent.

Minister Walter Chidhakwa has a mammoth task to deliver on the desire of his boss. He is also credited for initiating value-addition in the former Export Processing Zones. Renewed efforts to ensure that the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) starts to recertify diamond exports using criteria running parallel with the KPCS is likely to present another challenge.

OECD, whose member states are Western countries, is being used to ensure that Zimbabwe diamonds fail to get market access in the European Union despite attaining the KP Certification and even if the European Union sanctions are removed.

This devilish organisation is a carefully-structured barrier to trade of poor countries that are not subservient to Western countries. President Mugabe’s victory will mean that US future proposals in the KPCS will continue to be vetoed by Zimbabwe until the superpower removes sanctions on this small, but mineral-rich country.

The US is expected to make compromises or first lobby for Zimbabwe in crucial decisions in the KPCS.

Cde Mugabe’s victory has created another new problem for the US in the KPCS as Zimbabwe is expected to vote for the suspension of the US in the KPCS following a damning report made during a review mission led by India. US internal control systems were found to be in “shambles and decadent”.

This report is expected to be presented at the next KPCS November 2013 plenary. It must be clear to all and sundry that the KPCS matrix plays a crucial role in the US, EU and Canada accepting this year’s plebiscite as free, fair and generally credible.

It has nothing to do with the voters’ roll, alleged bussing in of voters or any other charges made by the MDC-T.

Tafadzwa Musarara is the Chairman of the Resources Exploitation Watch.