UK firm slams fake patriots

HARARE – The head of a British-based company locked in a legal battle with the Zimbabwean government over rights to the controversial Marange diamond fields has slammed “fake patriots” who it said were plundering Zimbabwes resources for the benefit of a “few corrupt, thieving elites.

African Consolidated Resources (ACR) chief executive, Andrew Cranswick, said that contrary to deliberate misinformation by the state media, his company was a Zimbabwean-founded and run by Zimbabweans.

Reacting to assertions that the ACR was foreign-owned and therefore had no right to claim ownership of the Marange diamonds, Cranswick criticised false patriots whom he said wanted to benefit from plunder of the countrys resources.

Real patriots

Patriots respect the rule of law. Patriots want real Zimbabweans to succeed, not a few corrupt, thieving elites, Cranswick said.

He noted that real patriots understood that capitalist companies and capitalist individuals (i.e. all of us who build and create versus steal and destroy) are not cows to be milked, not predatory leopards to be shot but the oxen who pull the heavy load.

ACR owns the rights to mine the Marange diamond field also known as Chiadzwa but it has been replaced on the property by rival companies linked to the government and by the security forces.

The British-based mining company early this month warned Interpol that it believed that the Zimbabwean government was preparing to sell stolen diamonds, and wanted diamond buyers in the United States and Europe to be prosecuted for receiving stolen property if they buy the Zimbabwean stones.

The Zimbabwean High Court has ruled that ACR owns the mining rights legitimately and, as a result, the company believes that any diamond sales from Marange amount to trading in stolen goods.

Diamond sales suspended

The move by ACR prompted the Harare authorities to suspend the January 6 sale of 300,000 carats from the Marange fields.

Cranswick said ACR was a transparent, publicly-listed company which has successfully brought more direct foreign investment to Zimbabwe than any other company during the past five “sanction” years.

He revealed that ACR had offered to enter into a 50-50 joint venture with the Zimbabwean government and the local community.

South Africas Core Mining and Grandwell Holdings, operating as Canadile Mines and Mbada Investments, respectively, have entered into a joint venture with the state-run Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation to extract diamonds at the claim owned by ACR.