Zimbabwe Must Freely Trade Gems

Zimbabwe diamond resources are some of the largest in the world. Imperialism has attempted to prevent the Southern African state from trading its most lucrative resource on the world market., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Zim must freely trade gems: Chikane

Sunday, 03 March 2013 00:00
Itai Mazire
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail

Zimbabwe should be allowed to trade its diamonds from Marange fields without hindrance, a diamond expert has said.

The call comes ahead of the Dubai Diamond Conference slated for March 18 and 19 which has seen the United States and its allies upping their bid to discredit the gems, alleging the mineral is funding “parallel government” activities.

But diamond expert and former Kimberley Process (KP) chairperson, Mr Abbey Chikane of South Africa, who is also a member of the World Diamond Council (WDC), dispelled the allegations.

In an interview last week, with rough-polished.com, Mr Chikane reiterated that Zimbabwe should trade its diamonds freely.

“I am aware of these allegations; I just think that if there are any such, one must produce evidence. So far and during my tenure there wasn’t such any evidence,” said Mr Chikane.

“. . . [B]ut suffice to say that over and above my own evaluation of the situation, a consensus . . . reached in November 2011 gave Zimbabwe clearance and it is on that basis not necessarily my recommendation that the Kimberley Process, 74 countries that participate, approved and endorsed that Zimbabwe should trade without any hindrance.

“You know based on information at my disposal during my tenure as the KP monitor, there is sufficient evidence that the largest chunk of revenue that was generated from mining activities in Zimbabwe was contributed to the government’s fiscus and that money had been used to develop and reconstruct their economy.”

Mr Chikane was the KP monitor for Zimbabwe between 2009 and 2010.

The chairman of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), Mr Godwills Masimirembwa, said despite advocating for sanctions on companies mining diamonds in Marange, the United States was the biggest beneficiary of the gems.

“You would see that there is bickering in the European Union (EU) over the removal of sanctions on our mining fields. Belgium is now on our side and these major players in the diamond industry are feeling the pain caused by the West,“ said Mr Masimirembwa.

According to recent industry statistics, India buys 98 percent of its diamonds from Zimbabwe and forwards the gems to the US which has a 40 percent stake on the world market.

the latest figures show that India is the world’s biggest diamond destination and 98 percent of the Marange diamonds end up in India. India in any event pushes most of its production to the US, which represents more than 40 percent of the world market.