Partnership Africa Canada releases new report on Zimbabwe diamonds
To coincide with the international diamond conference currently being held at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Partnership Africa Canada has released a new report: Greed and Corruption in Zimbabwe’s Marange Diamond Fields:
The report is divided into three main sections. The first looks at ongoing trade irregularities and the lack of transparency of diamond revenues, and examines ways ZANU and the global diamond industry have interacted, before, during and after the Kimberley Process imposed an embargo on Marange stones in 2009. The second examines the various revenue streams of Obert Mpofu and concludes the Minister of Mines is utilizing monies and assets divorced from his ministerial salary and known business entities. The third offers policy suggestions and recommendations that would improve the management and public beneficiation of Zimbabwe’s diamond revenues.
The biggest conclusion of this report is that despite government pronouncements to the contrary, the illicit trade of Marange diamonds is alive and well. A parallel trade in Marange diamonds continues to thrive, with the full knowledge and complicity of top officials in the Ministry of Mines, ZMDC, MMCZ and military.
The theft of Marange diamonds is perhaps the biggest single plunder of diamonds the world has seen since Cecil Rhodes. Conservative estimates place the losses due to illicit activity at over $2 billion since 2008.
PAC has found that while the mismanagement of Marange remains primarily a Zimbabwean problem, the global dimensions of the illegality has metastasized to compromise most of the major diamond markets of the world. Previously most of the illegal trade primarily involved South Africa, Mozambique, UAE and India. This remains the case, but greater vigilance by enforcement authorities should now extend to other centres, particularly Israel.
Tuesday, November 13th 2012 at 7:13 am
I read the Partnership Africa-Canada report last night.
Whilst it makes for interesting reading, it falls short
of absolute indictments of individuals, particularly,
Obert Mpofu. It unfortunately reads like a laundry
list of barely substantiated rumours that have been
doing the rounds for years. It seems the writers’
intention is to agitate the individuals, get them to
sue the writers and thereby force the accused to
disprove the claims on public record. This strategy
is currently being used by Core mining in their case
against the Minister where in a trial within a trial
they claim they paid the Minister a bribe of
$10million to ensure their mining rights and
partnership with the ZMDC. This partnership was
dissolved by the Minister under unclear
circumstances. The cases are both before the
courts with no resolution on the horizon.