The sad ode to Zim diamonds story

Zhanje and his colleagues, who had joined the Marange diamond rush, were severely mauled by ferocious police dogs as law enforcement agents moved into the area to curb illegal diamond mining activities.
“When I returned this year for the second time there were so many soldiers. The area resembled a military garrison.
“I came back to Harare without entering the area,” Zhanje recounted to The Financial Gazette.
Before the army moved in, between 15 000 and 20 000 illegal miners were working the alluvial deposits, causing serious damage to the environment.
The illegal miners descended on the Marange/Chiadzwa diamond fields after the government seized them from African Consolidated Resources (ACR).
ACR had acquired a De Beers concession in December 2006 but was immediately shut down by government under unclear circumstances.
A court order giving the mining rights back to ACR was overruled by the Mines Ministry, which transferred the rights to the loss-making Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
It is the army’s involvement dating back to October 2008 when the security forces launched Operation Hakudzokwi (No return) which has raised serious questions over human rights issues.
In a determination that left the Zimbabwe government with a rotten egg on its face last week, the Kimberly Process (KP), which seeks to ensure that diamonds do not fund conflict, fingered the army and police — who are supposed to provide security at the mining claims — in illegal diamond deals.
As a result, the KP gave government a two-week grace period to attend to the illegal activities, failure of which a ban would be imposed on the sale of the precious stones.
The KP review team, which said it had noted “direct involvement of the military in illegal mining and related activities”, also called for the investigation of the security forces, setting up of a tripartite mechanism invo-lving government, civil society and industry that would work to bring Zimbabwe in compliance with accepted diamond trading standards.
The KP said the government should consider the appointment of a special rapporteur to document human rights excesses, adding that if the government took on board the organisation’s recommendations this would be favorably considered in its final report.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu promised recently to hunt for a private investor to work the diamond fields in order to address the concerns raised by the KP.
This followed a declaration by the security forces that they would continue to exercise control over the Marange/Chiadzwa area.
While no detailed studies on diamonds have been made in Marange and most other parts of the country, the Reserve Bank of Zim-babwe (RBZ) last year estimated that the country was losing in excess of US$1,2 million a month in revenue to illegal diamond diggers.
RBZ governor, Gideon Gono, had bemoaned ZMDC’s lack of capacity to fully utilise the 60,000 hectare (140,000 acres) resource, describing its extraction methods as “mechanised gold panning.”
“A reliable estimate shows that US$1,2 billion per month would be realised from diamond sales in the country, enough to solve the economic challenges the country is currently facing,” Gono said then.
Analysts this week said the buck now stops with the country’s political leadership as the implication of the security forces suggests that high-ranking politicians who have the power to stop diamond smuggling, were facilitating the crime.
Economic analyst Eric Bloch said: “One has to suspect that there has been political influence facilitating abuse at Marange, though one does not know if it as an absolute fact. But there is no doubt that it has to stop.”
Block said should the KP ban the local diamonds, the effect would be dire on the country’s economy, noting that prohibition would affect legal prospecting at Murowa and River Ranch diamonds mines.
The KP has been under pressure to pull the plug on diamond exports from Zimbabwe.
Last year the World Federation of Diamond Bourses called for a ban on trade in Zimbabwe diamonds, claiming the proceeds are funding “human rights” abuses.
The European Union, which slapped targeted sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and several of his associates, has also been pressing the KP to investigate the claims.
Bloch said the best way forward regarding the fields was for the concession to be placed in private hands and not run by the government.
Harare lawyer Chris Mhike concurred adding government’s failure to put an end to the illicit deals and human rights violations nearly four years after the diamond rush in Marange began shows that those in influential political positions were benefiting.
“There are too many people in high-ranking positions who have been benefiting or who potentially stand to benefit from an informal system in the area. As you know where there is chaos a few privileged people would enhance their opportunities,” Mhike said.
Another political analyst Ibbo Mandaza said there “are a lot of vested interests at various levels of government” in the diamonds resulting in porous security.
Before its latest report, the KP previously hinted that the solution to Marange smuggling lies not in a security, but political solution.
On April 16 this year, the KP released a statement saying it had sent a high level team “to deliver a stern political message to the Zimbabwean authorities with regards to the concerns on smuggling and illicit trade activities in the Marange diamond fields”.
The statement added that the high level team met Deputy Prime Ministers Thokozani Khupe and Arthur Mutambara as well as Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu, police chiefs, officials from companies operating at Marange – ZMDC and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe.
However, hardly three months after delivering the “political message”, another review team was back in the country only to find no improvement in the situation on the ground.