(HERALD ZW) Chiadzwa: Only one miner to stay….•Move to improve accountability • Seven companies face audit
January 25, 2014
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter—-
Government wants only one company to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa as it takes practical steps to improve accountability and transparency in the sector. The State is already auditing the seven firms mining diamonds in the Chiadzwa fields as a first step to rationalising operations.
The audits will cover miners’ operations from the time they first set up shop. The seven companies in Chiadzwa are Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Jinan, Kusena and Gye Nyame.
They operate as joint ventures with, or are in one instance wholly-owned by the Government through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the National Assembly on Thursday: “Firstly, we will look at a particular company and demand information on how many diamonds have been taken from the country and secondly how much they have been sold for.
“We need to know that as a country. What we want to do is to cut down on these other companies and identify a company which will work in conjunction with the Government so that we do not have these small companies working on our diamonds.
“This will take time. It is not an event, but a process.”
Minister Chinamasa said his Mines and Mining Development counterpart, Walter Chidhakwa, had made it clear that he was looking into the operations of diamond mining companies and would come up with a report on his findings.
President Mugabe has already expressed concern with the below par contributions mining is making to the national economy and he wants the sector rationalised and better controlled to ensure revenues from the sector benefit the entire country more fully.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-In-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces made the remarks at the 14th Annual National People’s Conference last month in Chinhoyi.
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, PATRICK CHINAMASA
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(HERALD ZW) Diamond miners hit hard rock
December 9, 2013
Lloyd Gumbo recently in CHIADZWA
COMMENT - I am so sorry to hear that the diamond miners at Chiadzwa have hit hard rock and 'diamonds are running out'. I am looking forward to them handing back their expensive licenses and getting out of the diamond mining business. Aren't they? Maybe the government should start exploring the Debshan Ranch. - MrK
Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa being shown Diamond Mining Company (DMC) mining equipment in Chiadzwa by the head of department Ettrene Heyns
Companies mining diamonds in Chiadzwa claim they have hit a hard rock and that alluvial deposits of the precious stone are fast running out, while extracting deep conglomerate gems is not commercially viable.To that end, they say they want further allocations of untapped diamond fields, promising to revert to current claims when they get efficient technology.
Officials at the companies made the claims during a familiarisation tour of the diamond mines by Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa last week.
There are seven companies licensed to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa – Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Jinan, Kusena and Gye Nyame.
However, they have come under fire from Government officials and analysts who question the business methods in operation and the sincerity of management of some of these firms.
Minister Chidhakwa said miners must balance alluvial and conglomerate operations, and that they should have planned for this from the word go.
Furthermore, Minister Chidhakwa read the riot act to miners who were not paying dividends to Government on time, and further castigated them for not contributing more meaningfully to Zimbabwe’s development.
According to the Diamond Facts website, alluvial diamonds are gems that are mainly found on the surface (eg in sand, gravel and clay) as a result of natural erosive action.
Small scale miners can use basic equipment like sieves, shovels and pans to dig up alluvial diamonds. On the other hand, diamondconsultants.ca defines conglomerate diamonds as a rock consisting of individual stones (larger than sand) that have been cemented together and require highly mechanised machinery to extract.
In short, conglomerate diamonds are embedded in layers of rock, while alluvial gems are surface level and require less specialist equipment to dig up.
An analyst told this paper that the mining houses should have been investing revenues from alluvial mining in equipment to venture into conglomerate mining.
Anjin director Mr Munyaradzi Machacha said, “The challenge we are facing at the moment is that we are operating at below break-even point.
“Our ore is much deeper to depths of about 40 metres and some of the areas we have had to abandon mining because it was no longer commercially viable.”
Mr Machacha said their current challenge was identifying areas they could mine using existing machinery while exploring and re-adjusting their mining plan to find more cost-effective methods to extract conglomerates.
He said they wanted to be immediately allocated new mining claims “with resources” for them to continue operating. In essence, Anjin would like Government to allocate it more – and rich – alluvial concessions with the state hoping that this time around more revenues will be committed to infrastructure and equipment.
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Minister Chidhakwa responded to the request saying: “From an economics point of view, it tells me that when you do that you will be balancing your costs hopefully some of them are being offset by alluvial.
“But even alluvial itself, you can’t keep getting the same grade. There are other spots where you find them in huge deposits and you should use that opportunity to capitalise and support the conglomerate.”
At Jinan, officials said the main resource at their claim was alluvial but that the grade was not commercially viable to extract.
“From 2012, the mined alluvial ore is about 2,4 million tonnes and the remainder is about 1,28 million tonnes. The remaining alluvial deposits cannot last at this mine for a long time,” said Jinan managing director Mr Ni Jun, through an interpreter.
Jinan chief mining operations officer, Mr Liu Jitat, added that conglomerate gems were too expensive to extract.
“We can see that the current mining area of the embedded depth of the conglomerate is already over 30 metres. But unfortunately, the conglomerate thickness is not very good. It is only 0,5 to 0,7 metres. The average grade is about 0,4 to 0,5 carats per tonne.
“So from this side, the grade is decreasing. On the other side which is the boundary with Mbada (Diamonds) the grade is 0,8 to one carat per tonne,” he said.
Minister Chidhakwa said if that was the case, then Jinan should surrender the claim to Government and institute processes to get another one.
Mr Ni said they would first draw a geological report for Government’s perusal before initiating any further processes in that regard.
Mbada Diamonds chief operations officer, Mr Tendai Kadyamusuma, said they were digging for both conglomerate and alluvial stones.
“Currently, we are exploiting low grade material compared to when we started. We have deep-seated conglomerate making it difficult to extract,” he said.
While touring Marange Resources, Minister Chidhakwa was livid that the miner was not declaring expected dividends to Government while under-investing in the country.
“You are 100 percent owned by Government and the expectations on you are much bigger than the expectations on anybody else in which we have 50 percent shares,” he said in reference to other diamond mining operations that are run as public-private partnerships.
“There are specific expectations on Marange Resources. Ko tinombowana dividend here (do we ever get a dividend from you)?
“I meet so many Zimbabweans who say to me why are we not getting what is due to us from Marange Resources where we don’t share with anyone else?”
He said Marange Resources was duty-bound to contribute to Treasury so that Government could meet its commitments, including paying civil servants a decent salary.
Minister Chidhakwa took a swipe at companies that were not investing in Zimbabwe to demonstrate their commitment to doing business in the country.
“We were almost involved in an accident because of the poor state of your roads. It only shows your fly-by night attitude. That ‘we are just coming to take and don’t care what we leave behind’.
“That is not the attitude I want to see from the mining sector. I have told everybody including those that are in the platinum sector. We want someone who can show us that if their reserve says they can stay here for 50 years, demonstrate that to us by giving us a 34-storey building in Harare or Mutare.
“That is how they built Sandton (in Johannesburg, South Africa),” said Minister Chidhakwa.
Last week, it emerged that mining companies banked just three percent of their billion dollar export revenues locally, thereby contributing to the liquidity crunch the country faces.
Last year, mines accounted for US$2 billion of Zimbabwe’s US$3,3 billion worth of exports, meaning much of the money made from exploiting the country’s resources contributed more to other economies as most of the money was not banked here.
Government has also taken a tough stance on minerals beneficiation, saying – in particular – platinum, diamonds and chrome must be processed locally.
This means mining houses must build local capacity and invest in infrastructure instead of exporting raw minerals that are then bought back by Zimbabweans as high value, processed imports.
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, WALTER CHIDHAKWA
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Exposé of De Beers’ murky dealings in Chiadzwa
Sunday, 01 December 2013 00:00
As part of a colourful narrative of corporate greed, corruption, intrigue and a conspiracy of silence, the story of how De Beers, a creation of Cecil John Rhodes, raped the diamond fields of Chiadzwa in a 12-year period has not been fully told.
True to history, only dribs and drabs of what truly transpired are beginning to emerge, signifying, on the one hand, how the country and the continent continue to lose out despite being richly endowed with minerals resources, and, on the other hand, how global international conglomerates continue to squander the goodwill offered by African governments.
De Beers, a company formed by Cecil John Rhodes in 1888 and subsequently taken over by the Oppeinheimer family, is described as a cartel of companies whose sphere of influence spans the whole diamond value chain from mining, trading and marketing.
A recent report released by the Centre of National Resource Governance (CNRG) indicates that suspicions that De Beers, whose first footprint in Zimbabwe’s Marange field was first registered in 1994 when it successfully applied for an Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO), was secretly siphoning diamonds from Marange under the guise of prospecting first came to light in the 1990s after Government actively began pursuing its affirmative action policies.
Young black geologists, as a consequence, found their way into the employ of De Beers, but suspiciously they were denied access to Marange.
All the while, the company continued to compile dossiers of adverse reports of the fields as a viable investment option, but nevertheless continued prospecting.
It is not clear how the company’s exclusive prospecting order (EPO) was extended three times against the standing provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act.
Some groups believe that there was active collusion by local officials who abetted plans by the conglomerate to prejudice the Zimbabwean Government.
“Section 94 of Zimbabwe’s Mines and Minerals Act states that ‘no order shall be granted for a period in excess of three years but an order may be extended by the Minister, on the recommendation of the Board, for a further period or periods not exceeding three years in all.’
“This means government extended De Beers EPO three times since the initial expiration of its EPO in 1997,” observes the report.
But the scale and extent of De Beers’ greed didn’t escape the eyes of the locals.
It is believed that villagers became curious when the company set up what was believed to be a “makeshift diamond processing plant” at Bezely Bridge.
The plant operated only at night.
Armed with tips from local geologists and villagers, some Government officials began to confront the company, while others steadfastly stood in its defence.
Some of the officials that were compromised even lamely claimed that De Beers was doing “experimentation for fertiliser manufacturing.”
Some incensed officials (names withheld) even threatened the interests of the Oppeinheimer family, which controlled a 40 percent in the company then, if they did not exit from Marange.
When De Beers’ licence abruptly expired on 29 March 2006, they hastily withdrew.
It is alleged that after the withdrawal of De Beers, white South Africans - employees of De Beers - invaded the area and contracted villagers, whom they taught to identify the precious stones, to start panning for diamonds, which they bought once every fortnight.
But as word spread, artisanal miners grew initially from less than 100 in May 2006 to 10 000 in seven months time.
African Consolidated Resources, which had hastily been awarded an EPO after De Beers’ departure, also waded into the picture but Government withdrew its licence over the manner the EPO was granted.
Former Minister of Mines Dr Obert Mpofu tried to seek legal recourse by suing De Beers for fraud, but in a typical Hollywood espionage script, all the records vanished from Mining Promotion and Development Unit of the Government. And the case seems to have died a natural death.
To this day, De Beers professes innocence, claiming that the company prospected Marange for a little under 10 years.
It also claims that it divested from Marange because it does not mine alluvial diamonds.
Labels: CHIADZWA, CORRUPTION, DEBEERS, DIAMONDS
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Chiadzwa villagers demand US$50k compensation
02/09/2012 00:00:00
by Garikai Chaunza
SOME of the families displaced by diamond mining activities at Marange in the eastern Manicaland province have dismissed as a pittance the US$1,000 they were given in compensation and want the payments increased to US$50,000.
About 4,000 families were moved from the Chiadzwa area to make way for commercial exploitation of a diamond find described as one of the world’s richest and a massive economic boon for the country.
Companies operating in the area, which include Mbada Diamond, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company and Marange Resources, were supposed to pay relocation expenses for the affected villagers.
Some of the families were resettled at Arda Transau, a farm in Odzi, but now say the US$1,000 they were paid in compensation was not enough.
“We are more than happy to see government and the companies operating in our area because we were never given the chance to say what we wanted as compensation,” Tsarukanai Mavhiza, a councillor from the area told New Zimbabwe.com.
“At the moment, a lot of us have not even received the US$1,000 and there is no information from the companies. Even those who have been paid are now realising that they were short-changed.”
Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association Executive director, Mutuso Dhilwayo, said the organisation would represent the families in their fight for an improved compensation deal.
“We are not concentrating on Chiadzwa or diamond mining only, but we are saying all mining contracts which were secretively negotiated should be renegotiated in public,” he said.
“In the case of the Chiadzwa villagers, they deserve to be given the chance to negotiate for themselves not what happened.”
Willias Madzimure, an MP, added: “I strongly believe that these people were short-changed. What was supposed to be done is to give them the opportunity to choose what they wanted before the relocation.”
The Chiadzwa diamonds have been dogged by controversies since they were discovered several years ago.
Industry watchdog, the Kimberly Process (KP), moved to block trading of the gems on the world market following allegations of human rights abuses, corruption and the involvement security services in mining the diamonds.
The KP ban has since been lifted but the MDC parties in the coalition government claim proceeds from the diamonds are not being remitted to the Treasury.
Labels: CHIADZWA
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COMMENT - Let's see if Tendai Biti is going to go after Anglo-American too, though I doubt it.
Rhodes an angel compared to Anjin: Biti
26/07/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has again laid into the China-controlled diamond mining firm, Anjin Investments, claiming the company was ripping the country off adding its murky operations were reminiscent of settler-colonial exploitation.
Biti told legislators that although diamond production had increased from 2,5 million carats to 4,5 million carats this year, revenues had been stagnant at US$41 million and singled out Anjin for particular criticism.
He claimed that the Chinese firm, the largest of the five companies operating in the reputedly rich diamond fields at Marange, was taking most of the revenues out of the country.
“It can’t be a one way traffic of extraction (without benefits to Zimbabwe) that would make Cecil John Rhodes look like an angel…we are going to continue speaking about diamonds,” he said.
Biti said while Mbada Diamonds – a much smaller company - had contributed US$2 million in Pay As You Earn, Anjin brought in just US$200,000.
“Where we got US$41 million we should have got US$285 million. To accept US$41 million it means we are stupid, we are fools; we are idiots,” he said.
“The Chinese are saying to themselves that we found our fools in Zimbabwe. In other countries they are building freeways, dams, real development and not these hotels they are building here.”
Biti was reacting to concern from MPs over the state of the country’s economy after he was forced to cut his growth forecast for the year and concede that the US$600 million expected from diamond sales would no longer be realised.
But Anjin has previously dismissed Biti’s criticism, accusing the Minister of over-estimating potential revenues from diamonds when he presented his 2012 budget.
“It is either he is untruthful, incompetent or illiterate. He made the blunder and miscalculated. He must be man enough and admit that he made a mistake,” Anjin board member Munyaradzi Machacha said last month during a visit to Marange by EU envoys.
“He (Biti) is scapegoating companies like Anjin for his miscalculations. He is persecuting a cash cow because he made a blunder.”
Still, MPs urged the government to find ways of ensuring diamond revenues were not diverted away from Treasury.
Said Bulawayo East MP Tabitha Khumalo: “The money from Chiadzwa must go to Treasury, Chiadzwa must be owned by the State, We have money but we have misplaced priorities.
“If the Cabinet does not want to deal with the question of Chiadzwa then I am going to urge the people of Zimbabwe to go and invade Chiadzwa.”
Anjin Investments is one of the five companies presently operating at the Marange diamond fields.
Deputy Mines Minister Gift Chimanikire recently revealed that the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has a 40 percent interest in the company while the state-run mining firm, ZMDC, owns 10 percent. The balance is controlled by the Chinese Defence Industries.
Labels: CHIADZWA, NATIONALISATION, TENDAI BITI
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COMMENT - This is a brazen abuse of human rights NGOs in order to further economic and financial objectives. Peter Hain is hiding behind Human Rights Watch's claims that there is a Chinese businessman involved in diamond trading in Marange. Then Peter Hain calls Marange diamonds 'blood diamonds', even though the actual Kimberley Process representative found that there was no such thing in Zimbabwe. Quote: "THE newly-elected Kimberley Process Certification Scheme chairperson Ambassador Gillian Arlette Milovanovic said
Zimbabwean diamonds are not ‘blood diamonds’ and are conflict-free." ((TALKZIMBABWE)
No blood diamonds in Zimbabwe - Kimberley Process). A plan last month by the UK/US to redefine the term 'blood diamonds' so the term could apply to Zimbabwe was rejected. ((NEWZIMBABWE)
Plan to redefine conflict diamonds rejected). This is all about keeping the people of Zimbabwe so miserable that they will vote for the MDC.
EU to ‘extend’ Zimbabwe sanctions: report This article was written by Our reporter on 16 July, at 03 : 11 AM
THE UK Parliament will this week hear calls to extend sanctions on Zimbabwe despite last week’s reports that the European Union are poised to suspend a variety of punitive measures in a bid to encourage reform.
British Labour Party politician and member of parliament, Peter Hain, will claim that President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party are planning election violence to keep the rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) from power, using money from the country’s diamonds.
The former cabinet minister will highlight a report by Global Witness which claims that Sam Pa, a Chinese businessman, has provided funding and equipment to Zimbabwe’s secret police in return for access to diamond deposits.
These claims have not been substantiated.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said “there was no question” of lifting sanctions on President Mugabe.
A report by The Telegraph newspaper last week claimed that Western diplomats have said that conditions could be lifted on the president if certain conditions are met.
He said that while the body was “reflecting” on its policy towards Zimbabwe, following a call for sanctions to be lifted by the UN Human Rights Chief, regional mediator President Jacob Zuma and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the president of Zimbabwe would not be among those given a reprieve.
Zanu-PF had expressed skepticism about the report that claimed that the EU was revisiting the issue of sanctions.
The party wants the sanctions lifted unconditionally.
At Tuesday’s Westminster debate Mr Hain will claim that Sam Pa has provided the funding and equipment to Zimbabwe’s ‘secret police’ in return for access to diamond deposits in eastern Marange.
But Mr Hain, a former Minister for Africa, will push for the sanctions not only to remain but to be extended to those allegedly involved in the country’s secretive diamonds trade.
“More than enough damage has been done already to the wonderful people of Zimbabwe, as a once-prosperous country has been reduced to penury,” Mr Hain will say.
“Let us ensure we do not perpetuate that terrible damage by premature suspensions of these highly targeted sanctions, especially on those responsible for the Marange blood diamonds, when the imperative is to impose more not less.”
[The Kimberly Process representative has long ago found that there are no 'blood diamonds' because the concept doesn't even apply to the Zimbabwean situation, but former minister Peter Hain knows better? It was Peter Hain's boyfriend, Peter Tatchell, who put a 'citizens arrest' on President Mugabe back in 1999, which undoubtedly increased the radicalisation and polarisation. - MrK]
In report last month entitled Funding a Parallel Government? Global Witness alleged that Sam Pa was awarded a diamond concession after donating up to $100m and 200 military trucks to Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation.
Sino Zimbabwe Development, a joint venture between the state-owned Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation and Mr Pa, was also said to have on its board three officials from the CIO which, Global Witness claimed, may be planning a military campaign aimed at stopping Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T from taking power.
The same group also claims that Anjin Investments, another joint diamond venture between Chinese and Zimbabwean companies, was being run by senior defence officials.
Mr Hain is calling for EU sanctions to be extended to include those named in Global Witness’ reports.
“There is a real risk that any money given by Sam Pa, Anjin and Sino Zimbabwe Development to the security forces will fund human rights abuses in the run-up to next year’s election,” he will say.
“By all means, if the intention is a to wave a carrot and not just a stick, then suspend a symbolic sanction on the partner of a Zanu official or two – but make sure that substantive sanctions such as asset freezes on Anjin and Sam Pa are imposed so the security forces cannot build a war chest before the election.”
However, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief said that while the body was “reflecting” on its policy towards Zimbabwe, “There is no question of lifting sanctions (an asset freeze and travel ban) against (President) Mugabe or anyone involved in … incitement to violence, etc — that is simply not up for discussion”.
Labels: BLOOD DIAMONDS, CHIADZWA, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, SANCTIONS, UK, ZDERA
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Zimbabwe to review diamond deals
21/05/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE is not benefiting from diamond mining at Chiadzwa and is
looking to reveal its agreements with companies operating in the area, a government minister has said. Deputy mines minister Gift Chimanikire said Zimbabwe should own at least 70 percent of the joint venture companies operating in the area.
Most of the companies presently have
50-50 joint venture deals with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
“As a ministry we are advocating to some of our colleagues that we need to re-visit some of the contracts we signed with foreign companies mining diamonds,” Chimanikire told a meeting of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce in Mutare.
“Diamonds are our own natural resource and Government should review those contracts and ensure Zimbabwe benefits. We deserve better than the 50/50 nemunhu akauya nefoshoro.
“Government should have at least 70 percent or even 80 percent. Let us re-look at that policy. We signed those deals when we were poor. We are no longer poor.”
Marange Resources, Mbada Diamonds, Anjin Investments and Pure Diamonds are currently operating at Chiadzwa.
Chimanikire’s remarks come after Finance Minister, Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe would miss its economic targets this year mainly due to under-performing diamond revenues.
"Diamond revenues have been under performing since January to 2012, with only $30.4m remittances received for the period January to 21 March 2012," Biti said last week. The target was $122.5m.
He particularly blamed Anjin and claimed the company was probably deliberately diverting funds away from treasury.
"We have not received a single cent from Anjin, yet Anjin is seven times bigger than some of the other [diamond] companies," Biti said.
"Clearly, we fear as the ministry of finance that there might be a parallel government somewhere in respect of where these revenues are going, and are not coming to us.
"There is opaqueness and unaccountability surrounding our diamonds."
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Newman Chiadzwa demands seized equipment
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:00
Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
BUSINESSMAN Mr Newman Chiadzwa has filed a High Court application claiming back his excavator (front-end loader), tipper truck and other equipment seized by the police from his homestead near the Chiadzwa mine fields in Marange three years ago.
The police stated in their papers that the equipment was seized because it was linked to the offence Mr Chiadzwa was facing under the Precious Stones Act.
But Mr Chiadzwa argues that the seizure of the property after his arrest had nothing to do with the criminal case.
Mr Chiadzwa contends that he was arrested in 2006 for the offence of buying diamonds. He, however, argued that the seized excavator, tipper truck, jig machine, a 5 000 litre water tank and toolbox could not be used to buy diamonds as alleged.
He added that he has since been acquitted of the said charges and that there was no basis for the police to continue holding on to the property.
In an application filed at the High Court early this year, Mr Chiadzwa is seeking the release of the property saying it was suffering wear and tear at an open space at the diamond base in Chiadzwa.
Mr Chiadzwa stated in his affidavit that on July 27, 2009, police officers in the company of some soldiers went to his homestead and demanded to enter into the premises.
They searched the premises before seizing an unregistered Massey Ferguson front-end loader, Toyota tipper truck (registration number 315 152), toolbox with an assortment of tools, 5 000 litre water tank and a jig machine.
Mr Chiadzwa indicated that the police officers did not give an explanation for the removal of the property.
Efforts by Mr Chiadzwa to recover the property were fruitless as the police advised him to write a formal letter for the release of the property.
The police, according to Mr Chiadzwa, did not respond to the application prompting him to file the High Court application.
“I contend that the respondents (police) have no lawful basis to confiscate my property. I have not been charged with any criminal offence in respect of my possession of the property and neither was it being used for any unlawful activity.
“I have ascertained that my property is suffering wear and tear as it is outside in the open sun at the diamond base. It has deteriorated in value significantly from the time of its confiscation,” said Mr Chiadzwa.
On behalf of the police, the commander at the diamond base, Mr Crypos Misi, denied that the police forcibly entered Mr Chiadzwa’s premises saying they politely asked for permission.
He stated in his opposing affidavit that the police did not seize the toolbox and that the other seized property was linked to the Precious Stones charges Mr Chiadzwa was facing.
Mr Misi defended the police actions saying everything was above board.
“The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act empowers the police to seize articles on reasonable grounds believed to be concerned with the commission of an offence. The police actions in this respect were above board.
“Applicant was arrested for contravening Section 3(1) of the Precious Stones Act Chapter 21:06 as read with Section 3 (a) of the Amendment Act Number 10/2007 after he was found in possession of 8,4kg of diamonds.
“He was sentenced to five years in jail and was ordered to pay US$132 750,” the police say.
In his answering affidavit, Mr Chiadzwa described the police’s defence as ridiculous and irrational.
“The allegations I was facing were that I was buying diamonds from unlicensed miners. Can I possibly buy diamonds with a tractor, front-end loader, tipper truck and water tank? This is so ridiculous.
“In any event, these items were never booked as exhibits in connection with the offence I was arrested for at all. Most importantly, I was acquitted of those charges.
“I was arrested on October 14, 2006, almost three years before the items were collected. There is absolutely no connection between my arrest and this matter (property matter)”.
The case is yet to be set down for hearing as an opposed matter at the High Court.
Labels: CHIADZWA, MINING, NEWMAN CHIADZWA
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COMMENT - The EU bribed one of the members on the KP Certification Process team to give a negative review of Zimbabwe, so that the US State Department and the EU can justify continuing their economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.
European Union bribes minister over Zimbabwe diamonds
Saturday, 07 April 2012 19:18
Brezhnev Malaba
Editor
The European Union (EU) corruptly paid a Liberian deputy minister to induce him to compile a false and hostile report on Zimbabwe’s diamond mining sector, The Sunday Mail can exclusively reveal. Investigations by this newspaper have unearthed a sordid paper trail pointing to a scandal that could rock the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP) to the core and drive a wedge between Western and African members of the grouping.
The Liberian Deputy Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Mr Kpandel Fayia, visited Zimbabwe from June 30 to July 4 2009, chairing a KP review mission whose mandate was to assess the country’s compliance with KP minimum requirements in the Chiadzwa diamond fields before mineral exports could be authorised. Apart from assessing overall compliance, the review mission, headed by Mr Fayia, was tasked with assessing the situation in and around the Chiadzwa diamond fields.
But the EU, in a bid to block Zimbabwe’s diamond exports by corruptly influencing the outcome of the review mission’s report, secretly paid Mr Fayia 3 600 euro, with a promise to pay a further 2 400 euro on condition that the Liberian official would meet his end of the bargain by compiling a hostile report which the bloc and its Western partners in the KP would use to bar Zimbabwe’s exports.
A diamond industry analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 6 000 euro (about US$7 800) can be viewed as a modest amount in rich countries but is a fortune in Liberia, where the monthly salaries of civil servants were recently increased to a paltry US$100.
Mr Fayia will be remembered for crying dramatically during his tour when political activists and officials from anti-Zimbabwe non-governmental organisations narrated to him what they alleged were heart-rending human rights violations by the army and police in Chiadzwa.
The Government said the allegations were concocted in a sinister bid to block Zimbabwe’s exports.
After the tour, Mr Fayia and his team wrote a report claiming Zimbabwe was not KP compliant. The report frustrated the Southern African state’s hopes of selling diamonds on the international market.
Mr Fayia’s report, which disappointed Zimbabweans who were looking forward to the authorisation of exports, recommended the “suspension of Zimbabwe from importing or exporting rough diamonds within the KPCS for a period of at least six months but until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met”.
As The Sunday Mail reveals today, the cat was let out of the bag after EU officials refused to pay Mr Fayia the outstanding 2 400 euro.
Instead, they have offered to pay him 61 euro, the amount he spent in mailing documents to EU headquarters in Brussels through DHL. Mr Fayia has responded angrily, demanding the promised money and accusing the EU of racism.
Contacted for comment yesterday, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr Obert Mpofu, said the matter has exposed the “duplicity and hypocrisy of some KPCS members”.
“These are the obstacles that Zimbabwe has had to overcome in our quest to sell diamonds, against all odds. The KPCS has been infiltrated by agents of imperialism and agents of corruption. We have been asking for fairness and now we are vindicated,” he said.
Zimbabwe would lodge an official complaint with the government of Liberia, the EU and the KPCS, he added.
The Sunday Mail has obtained a flurry of e-mails between Mr Fayia and Ms Nona Deprez, the team leader of the EU’s covert slush fund, the Instrument for Stability Operations, Crisis Response and Peace Building.
It is this correspondence between Mr Fayia and Ms Deprez that has blown the lid on the EU’s dirty tricks. The e-mails also reveal — in a shocking manner — the tough hurdles that Zimbabwe had to overcome in the countdown to last November’s Kinshasa plenary where the KP finally authorised the export of Chiadzwa diamonds. The secret agreement between Mr Fayia and the EU was code-named “Contract IFS-RRM/2010/247-564”.
In an e-mail dated March 23 2012, Mr Fayia wrote to the EU, demanding the promised money.
On March 27, the EU wrote back, telling him that he would not get the amount he was demanding. In turn, Mr Fayia dispatched an angry e-mail to the EU, complaining that the European bloc was now betraying him, yet he had fulfiled his side of the deal by submitting a report on Zimbabwe that was subsequently “certified and sanctioned by the
Chairman of KP on Monitoring”. Wrote Mr Fayia: “I accepted to head a KP Review Mission that everybody was afraid to undertake, especially as it related to Zimbabwe at the time.
“The contract I signed with you was for six thousand euros (6 000 euros) as was enshrined in the contract and the contract specifically stated that I would receive 60 percent of that amount as my initial payment and then receive the balance of 40 percent upon completion of the mission with a report to be certified and sanctioned by the Chairman of KP on Monitoring.”
He added: “All I did was to request for the payment of my balance of 40 percent and nothing more. I was asked to present documents to prove that I undertook the trip to Zimbabwe, which I did. The receipt of those documents was acknowledged by e-mail.
“Moreover, I have a copy of the 2010 KP Review Visit to Zimbabwe which was submitted to the KPCS. After having undergone this very challenging mission, I requested for my balance of 40 percent of the 6 000 euros which was due to me. To my surprise, I received a form to be signed so that I may get 61 euros as what is owed me. This is totally wrong. The contract did not say so.”
Mr Fayia, angered by the EU’s refusal to pay him for his hatchet job on Zimbabwe, added: “This is totally racist and biased. This would have never happened to a European or an American, but because I am African, I am being unfairly treated by you, Europeans, for a joke (sic) you asked me to do on your behalf when none of you dared to go and face the Zimbabweans as chairman of a trip of that nature. I did not ask to go on this mission; you a sked me to do so. I have all documentations to that effect...” The EU and Mr Fayia are yet to respond to inquiries from The Sunday Mail.
ON THE OPEN LETTER SENT TO THE KP CHAIR:
COMMENT - This open letter accuses the KP delegates of bribery and receiving bribes. I think the letter refers to UN Res. 51/22, titled: 51/22, titled Elimination of coercive economic measures as a means of political and economic compulsion
As an extreme exception, spelling errors have been corrected. The letter itself is pathetic, but the allegations are documented and extremely serious. Next time, use a spell checker. An editor would be nice too.
A/RES/51/22
2. Calls for the immediate repeal of unilateral
extraterritorial laws that impose sanctions on companies and nationals
of other States;
3. Calls upon all States not to recognize unilateral
extraterritorial coercive economic measures or legislative acts
imposed by any State;
Open Letter to the KP Chair
Posted by By Tafadzwa Musarara at 9 April, at 02 : 04 AM
Your Excellency,
Please accept my cordial and genial greetings, your Excellency.
We write to you seeking your intervention on the EU/Liberia bribe scandal matter, which we believe you are now aware of, as KP Chair.
The matter relates to formal contract (CONTRACT IFS-RRM/2010/247-567) entered into by the European Union represented by a one Ms. Nona Deprez and the Liberia Deputy Mines Minister Mr. Kpandel Fayia (former Chairperson of the KP Monitoring team on Marange certification) where the latter was supposed to deliver “a report certified and sanctioned by the KP Chair”.
This meant that a report, which will not excite the EU, was not going to be paid for.
In the emails now in the public domain shows that Mr. Fayia is breathing fire over non-payment of his services because the resultant report did not stop the Marange diamond certification as wished by the EU.
In an email, Mike Davis of Global Witness offered to help Fayia to recover his loot. Did I say Global Witness?
Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic 300x200 Open Letter to the KP Chair
Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic
In simple English, your excellency, EU wanted a specific outcome of the mission way in advance of its undertaking.
This act satisfies all the essential elements of bribery and can be least be described as a scandal.
It negates the virtues and principles of the founding statutes of the KP.
In particular, this bribery scandal denigrates the KP preamble, which states…”the international community develop detailed proposals for a simple and workable international certification scheme for rough diamonds based primarily on national certification scheme and on international agreed minimum standards…”
What is ironic, Your Excellency is that the same body that was mandated by a UN resolution to clean up the diamond trade from conflict diamond is now having powerful participants using dirty tactics to discredit other participants in pursuit of their crude foreign policies.
It makes sad reading that the KP has now joined a long list of multilateral institutions being abused by stronger countries as tools to achieve the objectives of their foreign policies.
We hope you will institute inquiry in this matter with the intention to commence criminal proceedings against the parties involved.
Your (in) action in this matter which involves your cousins, EU, will be precedent that will be used should similar acts are committed in the future and will shape the jurispendence within KP.
Meanwhile, we put you on notice that as a civic group, we will report this matter to Interpol and Transparency International.
Secondly, Your Excellency, we register our disappointment and dismay over your statements in India regarding the Zimbabwe diamonds exports into India as regards the USA Economic sanctions.
We believe that the USA state department adequately staffed with personnel to deal with ZIM-USA relations and your KP Chairship must be confined to mandate and Agenda of KP.
Regrettably, we see you have set an unfortunate precedent that a participant country chairing can use the KP platform to comment on its bilateral relations with one of the participant.
However, Your Excellency, the imposition of sanctions by USA (for whatever reason) are ultra vires Amendment 14 of the USA constitution which provides substantive and procedural rights by prohibiting the government to deprive persons of life, property and liberty without certain steps taken to ensure fairness.
I am glad that in your letter to Minister Mpofu of 29 March 2012, you admitted that they are “economic sanctions put in place by the USA government.”
Contrary to your claim, Your Excellency, these sanctions are not targeted because their precision to affect the selected persons and institutions are akin to kill a fly with a bazooka.
The tacit effect of sanctions on the head of state of a country implies that the entire country is excluded from any meaningful economic dealings. For example, it is impossible to open an Apple ID account using a Zimbabwean address but you can use any other address in other neighboring countries.
The impression created by these sanctions to the USA business is that Zimbabwe is no go area.
It is not by coincidence that after the imposition of USA sanctions, American companies like Coca Cola and Heinz closed shops in Zimbabwe.
Further, Your Excellency, these sanctions you refer to are violation of the United Nations General Resolution (Elimination of coercive measures as a means of political and economic compulsion) no 49 of 1996. It states that “…. reaffirms right of every state to economic and social development and to choose the political, economic and social system which it deems most appropriate for the welfare of its people, in accordance with its national plans and policies…. Calls for the immediate repeal of unilateral extraterritorial laws that impose sanctions on companies and nationals of other State.”
The foregoing, Your Excellency, makes the USA sanctions illegal and we respectfully request that you do not refer to them during your KP term. Any future reference to these sanctions within the scope of KP business we leave us with no option but to lobby the Government of Zimbabwe to raise a point of order in terms of the Kimberly Process Rules of Procedure ( Johannesburg) No34.
Events in the last three years in KP have shown that participants were pursuing agendas that are alien to the KP mandate as directed by the UN Resolution 55/56 which was informed by the Fowler report.
Given, Your Excellency, your performance so far, we simply can’t wait for your term to come to an end.
For the record, Your Excellency, if the stringent minimum conditions imposed on the Marange Diamond Fields were to be extended across the globe, they will be no meaningful diamond industry to take place.
I remain,
Tafadzwa Musarara
Chairman- Resources Exploitation Watch
Labels: CHIADZWA, CORRUPTION, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, OBERT MPOFU
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PM on diamonds
Sunday, 19 February 2012 00:00
Kuda Bwititi and Itai Mazire
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu have dismissed Global Witness as an irrelevant body after the Western NGO released a report last week discrediting the gems from the Chiadzwa fields. The Global Witness report titled "Diamonds: A Good Deal for Zimbabwe" was released on February 14 and called on the Government to cancel the licences for Anjin and Mbada Diamonds as well as review all the diamond operations in Marange.
Responding to a question on the Global Witness report during his two-day tour of Marange last week, Prime Minister Tsvangirai said the NGO should not interfere with the operations in the vast diamond fields as due processes had been followed to mine the gems.
"When Anjin and other diamond-mining companies were given licences to mine diamonds in Zimbabwe, all processes were followed," he said.
The Prime Minister said the Kimberly Process, which is mandated with regularising diamond-mining activities across the globe, had given Zimbabwe full rights to exploit the precious mineral.
"Secondly we must understand that the KPCS is an international organisation that certifies all diamond operations.
"If they (KPCS) were not satisfied with what is taking place, they would not have allowed Zimbabwe to sell its diamonds.
"I'm sure that KPCS has certified the country's diamonds because we are operating within KPCS standards. People may have their own opinions and objections, but as long as we are complaint, we can mine and sell our diamonds," he said.
Dr Mpofu said Global Witness had embarked on a smear campaign against the country's diamonds after it left the KPCS last year.
"What they are saying has no effect on the KPCS because they walked out from the KPCS last year. They do not have any claim to legitimacy but if they want to speak about our diamonds, they should come through the KPCS," he said.
Dr Mpofu said Global Witness was a front for De Beers and Canada.
"The truth of the matter is that De Beers and Canada are the two forces which are using all means possible to discredit Zimbabwean diamonds. De Beers is waging a war against us because we exposed them for looting our diamonds," he said.
Global Witness has been on a protracted campaign to discredit the country's gems since the Government took over the operations in Marange in 2008.
In 2010, the UK-US-based NGO released a report dubbed "Return of the Blood Diamond", making false claims of murder and human rights abuses in Marange.
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NGOs
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MDC-T’s KP plot foiled
Saturday, 05 November 2011 22:27
By Tafadzwa Chiremba
A PLOT by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) to throw spanners into the country’s bid to export Marange diamonds has been exposed.MDC-T legislators are alleged to have, a fortnight ago, sponsored a motion to denigrate the country’s gems extracted at Chiadzwa just a week before the Kimberly Process plenary session in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In moving the motion, MDC-T House of Assembly members Mr Eddie Cross (Bulawayo South) and Mr Settlement Chikwinya (Mbizo) said diamonds from Chiadzwa “deserved to be excluded” from trading on the international market.
However, Mines and Mining Development Minister Cde Obert Mpofu said the plot failed to work as Zimbabwe received a standing ovation from all the KP participants including America.
“He (Mr Cross) wanted to pre-empt the decision of the plenary by introducing the motion,” said Cde Mpofu.
“It failed just like many other attempts as we got the support to sell our diamonds.”
The KP session held in Kinshasa, DRC, from October 13 to November 3 2011, gave Zimbabwe the greenlight to export Marange diamonds just six days after the MDC-T legislators had moved their motion.
The decision by the KP brought to an end a long-running confrontation with Western nations over the gemstones.
The motion called for the nationalisation of the mining operations in Chiadzwa alleging there was no transparency in the exploration of the gems. The legislators also called for the KP to stop Zimbabwe from exporting its gems.
Mr Cross alleged that there was leakage of diamonds from Marange into Mozambique as well as human rights abuses.
He went on to quote a malicious documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which claimed that there were massive killings and mass graves in Manicaland as authorities sought to protect the gems from rogue elements.
“We have a host of illegal miners and traders operating here, in Mozambique and South Africa, extracting and trading our diamonds to their own benefit,” claimed Mr Cross.
“Then there are the astonishing revelations exposed by the BBC Panorama Programme of the human rights abuses taking place at Marange. In a detailed and well-researched programme, they expose killings, rape and torture over the past four years. There can be little doubt that this has blown our admission to the Kimberley Process right out of the water, and we deserve to be excluded so long as we do not get our house in order.”
On the other end, the Mr Chikwinya alleged that Chiadzwa villagers are forced to “work at gunpoint”. He said more than 200 villagers were killed in Chiadzwa.
“People were machine gunned, women were raped, diamonds confiscated for personal enrichment by the soldiers,” said Mr Chikwinya.
However, Cde Mpofu said the claims by the legislators were a sponsored agenda meant to tarnish the image of the country. Minister Mpofu said Zimbabwe will not be begging anymore following the green light from the KP Certification Scheme to unconditionally sell its diamonds from Marange.
“The Ministry of Mines has the pleasure to announce that it is ready to lead and champion the economic recovery of this country through a robust, dynamic and aggressive policy to grow the mining sector in Zimbabwe whose growth is currently bullish and set to contribute in excess of 50 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) ,” said Minister Mpofu
Zimbabwe stands to earn more than US$2 billion per year from the three mines in Marange.
Labels: CHIADZWA, EDDIE CROSS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MDC, SABOTAGE, TREASON
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‘We had to compromise on Marange’: US
Posted by By Our reporter at 6 November, at 14 : 45 PM
THE United States says the abstention from a vote at last week’s Kimberley Process plenary session in Kinshasa that allowed Zimbabwe to export diamonds mined in Marange fields was important in allowing progress within the Kimberley Process. The country says it was a necessary compromise.
Western nations – led by the US, Canada and Australia – wanted to bar the Chiadzwa gems from the international market. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland (pictured above), however, said the agreement on Zimbabwe’s rough diamonds “could have been stronger”.
However, Nuland noted, the US was keeping its own sanctions against Zimbabwe in place, under the 2002 Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zdera) and no US citizen would be allowed to trade in Marange diamonds.
The Zimbabwe government says the sanctions legislation is illegal as it was not mandated by the United Nations and has ruined Zimbabwe’s economy.
In March this year, the United States’ central bank and the Federal Reserve bank froze two Zimbabwean accounts belonging to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
The two accounts had about US$2 million from sales of the country’s minerals and deposited locally into a Stanbic Bank account, both account holders are under US sanctions.
Stanbic Bank operates a nostro account, maintained by an overseas bank, where bulk transfers are first sent before they reach their local recipients.
Through that arrangement, Stanbic Bank instructs its overseas bank to transfer the money to a local bank but that money first goes through the Federal Reserve.
A US government arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Offac), which is used by that government to implement the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwean parastatals, is said to have recommended the freezing of the funds.
Civil society groups, who have alleged human rights abuses in Marange, slammed the KP greenlight saying the KP has “given up” on Zimbabwe.
“The Kimberley Process has effectively given up on Zimbabwe,” said Alfred Brownell, President of Green Advocates, Liberia.
“KP member governments and the diamond industry seem ready to turn their back on the interests of Zimbabwe’s citizens, the public good and the principles on which the Kimberley Process was founded.”
Meanwhile many countries including China, Russia and India have hailed the greenlight saying it helps Zimbabwe on the road to recovery.
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, SANCTIONS
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COMMENT - More propaganda from the BBC - and in an election year too. It were shenanigans like these that got them kicked out of Zimbabwe in the first place. The old BBC had much higher standards of proof and what was reported as fact. But then, this has been going on for a decade now. I completely agree that this is about influencing the Kimberley Process. Zimbabwe has 20% of the world's known diamond deposits, but has to work with a global diamond market that is 90% controlled by Anglo-American De Beers (source: The Diamond Empire). Another fact the BBC leaves out.
BBC panorama: Battle for Zimbabwe’s diamonds
Posted by By Munoda Mararike at 10 August, at 01 : 23 AM Print
I SAT in this sofa last night and watched the much-advertised BBC Panorama Programme on Zimbabwe’s diamond industry called “Mugabe’s Blood Diamonds”. I did not want to be guided by my intrinsic bias, but I thought it appropriate to key in salient points for further debate.
I have reproduced these in point form and would welcome healthy ideas based on critical thinking, meaningful debates and opinions on paramount matters that affect our country.
Content and Context
1. The documentary is not collaborated by the state – there is no input from the state, military and police. Why did the BBC refuse interview that was granted by the Minister of Mines? Why did they not approach the army and the Police, or put them of record as having declined to be interviewed? Why did they not approach the President’s Office? Better still, approach the Prime Minister’s Office on the probity of a functional coalition Government in respect of Zimbabwe’s diamonds?
2. Judging from the responses of the interviewees, those ‘interviewed’ were probably bribed in some other ways or given money. Does one get an impression that the BBC takes advantage of political and socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country to advance a cause that is purpose driven here? How permissible is it to extract information this way? Surely all respondents cannot just be narrating the same themes? People are diverse and ideas are not packed as homogeneous blocks articulating same causes. What is the agenda here?
3. About the dead civilians that are catalogued – there is no evidence that the dead died from army gunshot wounds! Where is the evidence of the ‘dead’ apart from showing pictures of an overgrown graveyard exaggerated as a ‘mass grave’? If this was a well orchestrated Panorama interview, then of course, common sense is that there must be people to support the storyline. There is no co-relation between the dead and those names that were scribbled on an unofficial piece of paper. It would have been credible to show the name(s) of the deceased then collaborate with the hospital authorities (mortuary); and proceed to support the storyline by interviewing the relatives of the dead persons. That is evidence-based than speculative.
Research Methods
4. I am also curious that the documentary was originated from Mozambique – why? The BBC is now allowed and actually based in Zimbabwe at the moment – where, of late they appear to be sitting on their laurels or busy clandestinely doctoring records to justify ‘human rights abuses’? What is the point of totally freezing out the Ministry of Information out of the debate to which they are affiliated? Where is the balance? It was not necessary for the BBC to go to Chiadzwa through Mozambique, unless there was a justified cause. Why would one go through Angola to make a report in Namibia? I get the impression of over-exaggerating security concerns for purposes of imprinting a sense of brutality and intolerance of Zimbabwe as a country?
5. Showing the world a graveyard does not necessarily mean that those buried in it are ‘victims’ of police brutality. They may well have died of other natural causes including AIDS. Again, the aspect of connectivity or a correlation comes to the fore. Why does the BBC blatantly seek to mislead the world in a highly calculated strategy of dirty politics? On another note, showing the world of existence of the so called ‘records of death’ does not mean that they become credible enough for political consumption. Some of the information was stolen from hospitals and re-typed to produce evidence for The Hague. How reliable is such evidence?
Doggy Dossiers
The British press is known for ‘doggy dossiers’; ‘technical inaccuracies’ of figures facts and statistics and ‘sexing up’ documentaries and ‘doctoring’ of documents!
We hear tirades of how the press is manipulated by politicians especially at British Prime Minister’s Questions.
The BBC itself is part of the hugely corrupt web of ‘freedom of press’ candelabrum, where journalists, newspaper owners and reporters bribe the Metropolitan Police to avert prosecution for libelous and criminal reporting!
As I write this note, Scotland Yard bosses resigned over the News of the World phone hacking scandals where the police are alleged to have taken bribes to absolve journalists from prosecution.
It is a sickening world.
6. Why do civilians continue to occupy fields demarcated as ‘protected’ where they remain illegal occupants? Different reasons apply. By way of examples, some may still wonder about what happened to the demonstrators in UK’s Sell fields a few years back? How about at Stanstead Airport? How about at the third runway at Heathrow? How did the military police handle them? Why did the police use button sticks and ammunition on its people in Bradford? Why are the police using high-handed brutal means including live shootings in Tottenham, Enfield, Walthamstow, East Ham, Brixton and Croydon – to name just a few places?
Indeed these are riots triggered by the racist shooting of an innocent black man!
As I write this article, what is happening in Tottenham, a satellite borough of a first world capital, London is worse than what took place in Marange!
Common knowledge is that if an area is designated ‘protected’ by the state, then trespassers will meet the full wrath of the law including imprisonment! Chiyadzwa is protected, and efforts to relocate people are underway. Many of the people who were ‘displaced’ have since been successfully relocated. The area is a lot calmer now and ‘jambanja’ is a thing of the past. Why is this not being accurately reported by the BBC?
The Hague
7. I hear the BBC reporter mentioning ‘The Hague’. What for? Former Liberian president, Charles Taylor’s ghost of imperialist machinations is being reincarnated? We now hear of The Hague and see the desperation of the UK’s quest for greater influence in the management of Zimbabwe’s own diamonds – a new-found wealth! Taylor was ‘punished’ for being an obstruction to the wanton looting of resources in Liberia mainly by imperialist countries, including Britain. Inasmuch as Gaddafi has to pay heavily for the oil and the bombing of the Pan American Jumbo that fell over Lockerbie! Mugabe must fall on their sword for ‘human rights abuses’ including the land question – i.e. land reform programme that saw even the royal family’s land in Zimbabwe being redistributed to landless peasants! This is ‘works in progress’ so to speak.
8. The fact that Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Constantine Chiwenga went to Chiadzwa does not necessarily mean that he was stage-managing processes of repression as insinuated in the programme. For God’s sake someone must use their reasoning capacity. Why does the BBC now love to mention Chiwenga and Air Force chief, Perence Shiri’s names? Again, a case of building a fortress in their ‘New Zimbabwe’ agenda is well pronounced! To connect this argument: former opposition party of Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC-T is calling for the reforms of Zimbabwe’s security services by citing specific names as ‘problematic’. It cannot be a mere coincidence that the same names are also being touted in BBC’s Panorama Programme!
Atrocities in Iraq
On the other hand, we have lost count of the number of times the British PMs or USA Presidents have been to Iraq. It would be mischievous for one to speculate that they go to Iraq to motivate their soldiers to kill innocent civilians for oil or yet alone label the oil as ‘bloody’! On a related note, we are yet to see a Panorama document fully detailing atrocities being perpetuated in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan Northern Ireland and Libya to name a few countries. We saw one about Guantanamo Bay, but to date, no one in authority has repeated putrid statements about it. As a footnote to the foregoing, human rights become a relative term, a lexicon that is applied subjectively and discreetly for power and expedience. We need to watch the use of extreme language and diction dominating this programme.
The reporter used the term ‘serious human rights abuses’ as an emotive term designed to conjure up images of brutality.
She went on to say that ‘our cameras could not stay there long’. Again this denotes situational fear which is often appended to dictatorship and the military junta.
The true reason why cameras had to be moved from a non-existing image was that there was literally nothing to focus on!
But the impact of speculative journalism through the use of diction is used reinforce psychological fear and pressure in calculating the notion of a military state.
Thus, to portray President Mugabe as a dictator is the selling point of regime change or collective international action because ‘Plan A’ of sanctions has failed.
Whose Benefit?
9. Statements that the diamond revenue is not benefitting the ordinary people appear to be insipid and dry! Do we have to, as a country, open our financial books and budget statements to the West for inspection? How we use our financial resources as a country in entirely our own story. Of course they will inspect Botswana books and draft that country’s national budget as they please, but I do not think Zimbabwe is prepared for that. There are so many projects that have now been initiated from diamond sales proceeds.
It is up to the government to disclose the nature of the projects but really, the government is not obliged. After the coalition government was put in place, Zimbabwe’s promised AID never materialised. Zimbabwe has recovered using a combination of robust fiscal measures and macro-economic policies despite some questionable packages and strategies by the finance ministry. We are using the proceeds from diamonds to kick-start and stabilize the economy in different ways. It is only the UK which is too keen and wary of tracking minute events of Zimbabwe’s recovery process. We are not going to ask the reasons for this.
10. A point of correction is the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (Kimberley Process, or KP) is not in turmoil as suggested. The BBC report is designed to influence the Kimberly Process in terms of making decisions on the resumption of the sale of diamonds. The pressure on the KP is being exerted selectively, privately and publicly at different wavelengths. We saw this drama unfolding as the Panorama is now a tool designed to tip the scales in favour of British interests. This is live drama which the world is now well used to.
What happened on the eve of the election of FIFA’s Blatter? People saw the build up and desperate attempts to persuade voting members into making decisions which Britain really wanted? What happened to the over-drummed corruption case of FIFA? They say that the UK is a scarecrow that relies on its very powerful media and press for world domination. This is very true.
Alternative Markets
11. Britain is at liberty to boycott Zimbabwean diamonds. We have alternative markets. Britain is jealous that it has been isolated by Zimbabwe for too long a time when the world has moved on. It is only unfortunate for our beloved former colony that diamonds were discovered when it was almost irrelevant but significant to our political dispensation. There are contradictions and inherent in capitalist global economies: For example, I hear certain quarters of the MDC alluding to the fact that diamonds must benefit locals. But on the other hand, Britain is against this because they are arrogant, full of rapacity and greed – they want to benefit exclusively from what they think is a ‘loot’ of the day! Britain supports the MDC-T.
Master’s Hymn Book
However, MDC is singing a different song that is not even found in their Master’s hymn book. MDC ‘concurs’ with Zanu–PF by parroting that there is ‘no reverse to land reform’; but Britain wants the whole project cancelled and are prepared to ‘fund for proper land reform’. Thus, it becomes an anathema if British interests are totally marginalized, and therefore, a project is not good enough! The British culture of pursuing protracted agenda under the banner of the Empire is what keeps them on the pedestal of dominance and patronage! Truly liberated Zimbabwean compatriots find this approach rather archaic and deprecating!
12. Concoctions about who is personally benefiting from Diamonds are downright insidious and malicious. It is like perpetuating a storyline that the grand mansion that sprawl over literally the whole mountain in Highlands for Prime Minister Tsvangirai is being built from the proceeds of diamonds! It is equally unqualified to speculate that even MDC-T MPs’s pick-up trucks are a product of Marange? Hei! There is no evidence that President Robert Mugabe is personally benefitting from the diamonds – the British are paranoid and afraid of Mugabe! Inzwai, Bona is not going to school using Marange diamonds!
Social research methods call for enquiries that are based on scientific and ethical methods of extracting information through evidence-based practice. Paying inducements to ‘interviewees’ to release certain information is all but a good way of distorting findings. The halo effect is possible! Whatever the situation, the BBC must hang their heads in shame for producing such a one-sided, ill-researched, half-backed documentary for the world to see!
*Munoda Mararike can be contacted via munoda.mararike09@my.northampton.ac.uk
Labels: BBC, BRIBERY, CHIADZWA, CONSTANTINE CHIWENGA, DIAMONDS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, PERENCE SHIRI, PROPAGANDA
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West perpetrating rights abuses through diamond war
Thursday, 04 August 2011 02:00
By Tendai Moyo
Diamonds from the Chiadzwa area of Manicaland in Zimbabwe have gained unparallelled global prominence not because of their wealth creation or inherent aesthetic value but unfairly due to their contested state on the diamond market. The rugged bowels of Chiadzwa are believed to be nursing rough diamonds estimated to constitute an awesome 20 percent of world diamond deposits.
Earnest attempts by the Zimbabwean Government to harness these naturally endowed gems for the benefit of its sanctions emaciated people are continually being scuttled by the US and its cartel of European bedfellows through the abuse of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.
These neo-colonialists claim that there are prevalent human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Zimbabwean Government against its people as well as unchecked smuggling of rough diamonds through the porous Mozambican borders.
Charges of human rights abuses arise from unsubstantiated reports from armchair researchers in the money-driven Western proxy organisations such as the Centre for Research and Development, which masquerade as civic organisations.
These reports, which surprisingly lack tacit corroboration from the Western backed MDC formations, have found their way into the mainstream Western media that apparently have the racist mandate to diligently denigrate anything African.
Armed with these unfounded reports, Western media and partisan civic organisations like Global Witness and Canada Africa Partnership, enthusiastically peddle political positions that promote the indiscriminate blockade of trade in Marange diamonds.
What these regime-change-mongers are oblivious of is that their restless efforts to block this trade are particularly causing untold human suffering among the generality of Zimbabweans. They are unquestionably perpetrating human rights abuses by actively promoting a heinous campaign to block diamond exports that can significantly contribute to the resuscitation of an economy battered by a decade of biting sanctions.
Their disingenuous efforts are contributing to the continued shortage of critical health, educational and social services which could have been ameliorated if revenue inflows from the diamond trade were left to flow freely.
In a way, they are manifestly infringing human rights by denying people access to basic necessities which could easily be funded from diamond money.
A snap view of the efficacy of diamond money in ameliorating the people's financial struggles was recently availed when the meagre proceeds from the suppressed diamond trade were used to moderately adjust the paltry earnings of Government workers. As a result, these workers managed to minimally improve food supplies for their families and save some of the money for health, education and other basic requirements.
This development has brought disillusionment in peoples' hearts towards the West's sincerity in blocking exports of their abundant diamonds. Questions were raised on whether the West is really concerned about the so-called human rights abuses in the country when it was at the forefront of unflinchingly propagate a diamond trade embargo that promotes hunger, diseases and poverty.
Similar questions were vehemently echoed by regional, continental and various international groups that understandably questioned the logic behind the West's unrelenting campaign to block Zimbabwean diamonds.
The African Diamonds Producers Association decided to stoically rally behind Zimbabwe's bid to participate in the diamond trade without undue interference from the westerners.
"Zimbabwean diamonds cannot be held at ransom just because a minority of countries within the KP continues to block consensus deliberately. The motives behind the attempt to block Zimbabwean diamonds are sinister and driven by political agendas on the part of those countries," reads an ADPA a statement in November 2010.
The statement went on to say that no country in the world has the right to block another country's trade as it is a violation of the World Trade Organisation rules.
South Africa similarly came out in the open saying it will import diamonds from Chiadzwa despite stern warnings from the usual Western quarters.
Musa Zondi, spokesman for South African Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, said Pretoria's position is the same as that of KPSC Chairman Mathieu Yamba, who had issued a statement saying Zimbabwe can freely sell its diamonds, "so there is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't be sold on an open market".
A communiqué from the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator signed by Dithuso Kgari said, "South Africa has taken a position in support of Zimbabwe regarding exports of rough diamonds. On that note, we will accept imports of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe".
Other stakeholders in the industry have also registered their unbridled desire to see Zimbabwe join the diamond league saying its abundant deposits have the potential to buoy the industry to greater heights.
In India, from where 95 percent of the world's cut and polished diamonds are exported, the industry is lobbying for access to the Zimbabwean diamonds.
"Instead of South Africa, the initiative of accepting import of Zimbabwe diamonds should have been taken by India as Surat is the end-user of Zimbabwe stones. It is very crucial to clear Zimbabwe's rough diamond export," said Ashit Metha, Chairman of Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India, the body representing diamond importers.
The World Diamond Council also decried the politicisation of the Zimbabwean issue saying that the KP should be cognisant of the fact that these diamonds have the potential to adequately support lives of millions of ordinary people in the country.
"I believe all sides agree that what is at stake here is not only the wellbeing of the diamond business, but also the economic future of ordinary people living in the diamond producing areas. And this of course, includes Zimbabwe, whose production provides an exciting opportunity in Africa. But, if the Kimberly Process is rendered ineffective as a result of indecision at the executive level, nobody really benefits," said WDC President Eli Izhakoff.
What is puzzling therefore is why the US and its other Western acolytes would intransigently go against world pressure to allow exports in Marange gems?
The answer could lie in the fact that these imperialist are using the KPSC as a convenient avenue to enforce their illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe. This realisation inadvertently imports the publicly-held truth that the Western sanctions against the country are not only limited to travel restrictions against some selected Zanu-PF members but are fully fledged measures designed to strangle its economy.
In line with other previous measures to stifle Zimbabwe's sources of funds, the Westerners have besieged the KPSC to ensure that they plug another avenue that has the potential to provide a lifeline to the country's limping economy.
Their pious opposition to trade in Marange diamonds is also informed by the firm realisation that these gems have a potential to put their sanctions regime asunder. Yes, they have realised that revenue from the rich diamond deposits could effectively torpedo and render useless their regime change inspired sanctions against Zimbabwe.
As such, it is also instructive that, contrary to their claims, these Westerners are pursuing a non-targeted and indiscriminate sanctions regime that is clearly directed at the totality of Zimbabwean people.
While the West has spread its numerous tentacles to block our diamond exports in the form of civic and political organisations, what have we done as a country to counter the unwarranted attacks?
It is therefore advisable for Zimbabweans to immediately shed of their lackadaisical approach to fighting for their natural right to export diamonds and fervently assume a combative frame that squarely match that of its western nemesis.
We should henceforth besiege Western capitals to vociferously clamour for our incontrovertible right to freely sell our diamonds.
We should simultaneously inundate the global media with our just plea for an unfettered right to trade our mineral resources. We must immediately stand up to the plate and shrug of the lethargy that has debilitated our will to fight for self-determination. Let us make all the necessary noises at every international forum to make our voices heard in the clutter of opposing choruses led by the west.
We have irrefutable support from all corners of the world to freely trade our
diamonds hence what is left is for us to immediately grasp this momentum and use it to secure our natural right to sell our minerals without any extraneous interference.
indo2moyo@gmail.com
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, SANCTIONS
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COMMENT - Here we go. I wonder whether the mine industry apologists are going to turn up and complain about Anglo-American De Beers and it's violation of the 'Rule Of Law'. Or perhaps they think the rule of law only applies to Africans? De Beers should lose it's license to operate in Zimbabwe, let alone other African countries. It is obscene that trillionaires are gleaning every cent of profit they can from Africa, while the people starve and live on $1,- per day. Also, if they can't be trusted to declare their revenues, they can't be trusted to declare their taxable income. I say nationalize their assets.
Probe into De Beers operations in Chiadzwa
07/07/2011 00:00:00
by Sapa
THE Zimbabwean government is investigating the operations of diamond company De Beers in Chiadzwa some years back amid fears
the company could have looted gems worth hundreds of millions of dollars. De Beers spent
eight years exploring diamonds at the fields, but later
claimed that it failed to get anything meaningful.These are the same fields that Mbada, Marange Resources and Anjin Investment are operating on viably today and extracting millions of carats, the report said.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Gift Chimanikire on Wednesday confirmed a probe was already underway.
“We have requested a full report on De Beers and their operations from our officers,” Chimanikire said.
The allegations against De Beers were first made by President Robert Mugabe in March last year.
His spokesman George Charamba said at the time: "For 15 years, the Zimbabwe government believed De Beers was only prospecting and carrying out tests when the company was actually mining.
"When the government finally realised this and tried to arrest them, that's when they hurriedly pulled out and claimed the diamonds were not of commercial value."
At the time, Charamba had indicated the government could not "take the issue further" because it could not establish "how much of the diamonds have been taken".
"The most important thing now is that we now have our mines back."
De Beers' director of international relations has denied any wrong doing by the mining giant.
"We were in the Marange fields from 1993 to 2006," Andrew Bone said from London. "We only did core sampling. The deposits we found there did not fit into our portfolio. There were also disputes regarding the allocation of a second concession to another mining company, ACR. That's why we pulled out.
"The bottom line is that there are ridiculous allegations and there is no evidence of De Beers mining diamonds in that area."
But on that last point, Charamba shot back: "It is not a secret that alluvial diamonds are mined at the surface. It is not like a kimberlite. Why should it take 15 years for such an experienced company to conclude that our diamonds are of no value to them?"
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, ANGLO-AMERICAN, CHIADZWA, GEORGE CHARAMBA, ROBERT MUGABE
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Chiadzwa: President on fact-finding mission
Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:00
From Takunda Maodza in Chiadzwa
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday went on a fact-finding mission of two Chiadzwa diamond mining firms, Sino-Zimbabwe and the Diamond Mining Corporation, to get firsthand appreciation of developments at the two firms.
Both companies, which are new players here, recently got claims joining Mbada Holdings, Mara-nge Resources and Anjin Investment that have been operational for sometime now.
Sino-Zimbabwe Diamonds is a joint venture be-tween the Zimbabwe Development Corporation and Chinese Investors, while DMC is a partnership between the same parastatal and Pure Diamonds.
Sino-Zimbabwe told President Mugabe that it ceased operations two months ago because the cla-im it was allocated did not have enough diamonds for viable commercial mining.
The company's mine manager, Mr Eli Sher, pleaded with the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces that they be allocated another claim rich in diamonds.
He claimed that Mbada Holdings and Marange Resources were allocated claims rich with some gems.
"We have finished testing the potential of the blo-ck (claim). The diamonds are not viable for economic mining. We found that the diamond quality in the area is poor. We did not expect all of them would be industrial," said Mr Grant Rau, Sino-Zim's chief geologist.
There is no activity at Sino-Zimbabwe and the company has since filed an application for another claim.
President Mugabe told Sino-Zimbabwe that the area it was eyeing was allocated to another company and encouraged the firm to carry on further exploration where it was allocated.
"What you are talking about has already been allocated to other people. People cannot just concentrate on one place. We need to spread," he said.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu, who was part of the delegation, confirmed that the area Sino-Zimbabwe wanted was allocated to another company.
"You are looking at an area that has been allocated already. Exhaust the blocks that you asked for initially," he said.
According to Mr Rau, 12 195.7 tonnes of material were taken to the processing plant for diamonds, recovering only 239 diamond pieces equivalent to 521 carats.
Sino-Zimbabwe started operations in January this year only to shut down four months later.
But ZMDC chairman, Mr Godwills Masimire-mbwa, told journalists that the area had potential like any other diamond claims at Chiadzwa.
"The way forward is for us and Sino-Zimbabwe to work together and carry out further exploration. The area available for exploration is huge. There are diamonds in this area but the area that has been explored is very small. The nature of this resource requires exploration and money has to be sunk into exploration," he said.
President Mugabe then visited DMC where he was impressed with what he saw.
The company, which is yet to start mining, has embarked on massive construction work and is in the processing of installing what its mine manager, Mr Vic Botha, said: "was the largest diamond processing machine Marange has seen today."
The DMC has not started any mining activities but the company has already invested US$25 million at its claim.
It has also started building houses for 114 families set to be relocated from its claim when it starts operating full throttle on July 15.
Speaking to journalists after touring the DMC, President Mugabe said: "I think we are happy...They should continue with the good work. We are waiting for actual production."
He said companies that were given licences to mine diamonds at Chiadzwa should fulfil their objectives for the benefit of the country.
President Mugabe reiterated that "with sanctions or no sanctions," Zimbabwe was going to sell its diamonds.
Senior Government officials, among them Minister of State Security in the President's Office Sydney Sekeramayi, were part of the delegation that visited Chiadzwa yesterday.
Labels: CHIADZWA, ROBERT MUGABE
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Government hails diamond mines
Friday, 18 March 2011 00:00
From Tendai Mugabe in Marange
Government has hailed mining operations being conducted by the three companies that have been licensed to exploit diamonds in the Chiadzwa area of Marange. Mbada Diamonds, Marange Mineral Resources and Anjin Operations have established state-of-the-art machinery to mine the diamonds.
Speaking after a tour of the three companies facilities by a delegation of Permanent Secretaries from various Ministries yesterday, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Retired Colonel Christian Katsande said Government fully backed the mining houses.
The visit was directed by the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda.
"We are on a mission of the Chief Secretary, visiting important developments such as this one. Yesterday (on Wednesday) we were in Chisumbanje where we visited the ethanol plant. Now we are here in the mining sector and we are looking at visiting other key productive sectors - the idea being that we want to follow through on major economic developments that can generate resources that can help us to deal with the economic sanctions.
"Clearly this (mining) sector is key and this is why you see Government being very supportive in this area.
"We are delighted to witness the effort you are doing on the ground. Expectations are high from the nation from this sector."
Rtd Col Katsande urged mining companies to capacitate local institutions that can manufacture presently imported spare parts as a way of dealing with the illegal Western sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Mbada Diamonds manager Mr Gerald Sithole said: "We are committed to fighting the economic sanctions."
Assistant to the president of Anjin Operations, Mr Bai Xiangqian, said he was happy with the support they were getting from Government.
"We got support from various ministries and I want to thank you for that," he said.
Among the delegation are Mr George Charamba (Media, Information and Publicity), Mr Killian Mupingo (Local Government, Rural and Urban Development), Mr Ngoni Masoka (Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development) Mr Martin Rushwaya (Defence) and Mrs Sophia Tsvakwi (Lands).
Labels: CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS
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Foreigners loot Zim mineral resources
By Tafadzwa Chiremba
Sunday, 27 February 2011 09:17 Top Stories
FOREIGNERS with massive shareholdings in Zimbabwe’s major mining companies are raking in billions of dollars while no meaningful revenue gets into the country’s coffers, President Mugabe has said.
Attacking platinum mining giant Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats), President Mugabe told delegates and party supporters attending the 21st February Movement celebrations in Harare yesterday that Zimplats has contributed nothing substantial to the development of the country.
Zimplats is 87 percent foreign-owned by South African-based Impala Platinum and posted more than US$250 million revenue in the half year ending December 31 2010.
The company has previously been accused of failing to contribute to the country’s development and clandestinely contracting foreign companies for its various expansion projects in Zimbabwe at the expense of local firms.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces said a lot of revenue from the natural resources was being siphoned.
“Zimplats has never ever given us any real substantial amount. Varikungodutira mari vachiendesa kuSouth Africa (they are channelling the proceeds to South Africa,” he said.
The President called on Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Cde Saviour Kasukuwere to work on indigenising the foreign-owned mining companies soon.
“There is a lot of money that is not benefiting the country. There are huge deposits of platinum and gold. Let’s now deal with these companies.
“Gold is yielding more than US$1 000 per ounce outside the country. But where is the money going? We are not getting it. We are going to take our companies to account.
“That is why we are saying Cde Kasukuwere let’s deal with this issue soonest.”
He added that indigenisation was long overdue.
“These enterprises have been under the control of settlers and those settlers would do what they wanted. That freedom must cease and we must get into these companies and get majority shares,” he said.
“Zvekuti ndiri CEO zvagara zviripo kani. Zvakutotifinha (For a long time, indigenous people have wanted to be the CEOs of other people’s companies. Let us aim to be company owners).”
While commending Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources for their operations at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, the President said there was scope to increase the 51 percent indigenisation threshold in foreign-owned companies.
Recently, the two companies presented to Government a combined dividend of US$174 million, which Cde Mugabe said, should be directed towards increasing civil service salaries.
Yesterday’s celebrations drew thousands of Zimbabweans from all walks of life, among them politicians, Cabinet ministers, business executives, service chiefs and youths.
President Mugabe said his past had provided a foundation for his life.
“We are all bearers of the past. We therefore must never forget that we carry the burden from the past,” he said.
He urged Zimbabweans to desist from multiple sexual relationships so as to win the fight against HIV and Aids.-The Sunday Mail
Labels: CHIADZWA, TAX EVASION, ZIMPLATS
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US smuggles hostile clause into Chiadzwa diamond deal
Saturday, 05 February 2011 23:42 Top Stories
By Tafadzwa Chiremba
THE United States is alleged to have smuggled a hostile clause into a draft decision that granted Zimbabwe the greenlight to export its diamonds mined at Chiadzwa.
It is understood that the clause — 3(b) of the draft decision recently circulated by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) outgoing chairman Mr Boaz Hirsch — was politically charged to introduce stringent measures in Zimbabwe’s bid to sell its diamonds.
Observers feel that the clause subjects Zimbabwe to standards which no other country in the Kimberley Process is subjected to.
KPCS last month finally granted the country the latitude to sell its diamonds, including its stockpile, following a Draft Administrative Decision that was circulated by Mr Hirsch revealing that Zimbabwe had made “significant progress” in moving towards full compliance with KPCS.
“Plenary recognises that the Review Mission and KP monitor have confirmed the compliance with KP minimum standards of certain mining operations (that is Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources).
“Plenary endorses exports of current production with immediate effect from the compliant mining operations,” read part of the circular by Mr Hirsch.
Sources close to the Brussels KP meeting that culminated in the Draft Administrative Decision revealed that the United States engineered the “politically charged and vague” clause which states that occurrence of violence, lawlessness and harassment would trigger suspension of Chiadzwa diamonds from exports.
Part of the clause read: “The KP Plenary calls upon the Government of Zimbabwe to actively undertake all commitments so that the provision of security measures and internal controls in Marange should ensure the prevention of lawlessness and violence, particularly when involving Government entities, and to ensure the gradual demilitarisation and the reduction of smuggling in/from Marange.”
Zimbabwe has since challenged the clause, which has come to be known as the “violence clause”. -The Sunday Mail
Labels: CHIADZWA
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