Mpofu returns diamonds to RBZ

Mpofu reluctantly complied with a Supreme Court order last week instructing him to return contested diamonds from the Marange field to the central bank. He had removed the stones early this month, sources said. The court had ordered the diamonds to be held by the central bank pending resolution of a suit against the government by London-based African Consolidated Resources over revocation of its Marange mining rights. When Mpofu, backed by police, took the diamonds from the Reserve Bank, he presented a document purporting to be from an official of the Supreme Court countermanding the ruling that the diamonds should be sequestered at the RBZ.

Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku then issued a new order, instructing Mpofu to return the diamonds, and also instructing Mbada Holdings to cease its mining activities in the Marange field of Manicaland province under a joint venture with the government until the case is settled. Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai confirmed that Mpofu had heeded Chidyausiku’s ruling and returned the diamonds. The Supreme Court decision was in response to an appeal by the Ministry of Mines of a High Court order last September confirming that ACR was the legitimate

holder of mining rights on two Marange claims.

That High Court order said that even if the ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court – as it was – an eviction order against the military and others developing ACR’s disputed claims would remain in force. ACR Chief Executive Andrew Cranswick told VOA that his company was prepared to go into a joint venture with the government in the lucrative Marange fields whose deposits are believed to exceed those of Botswana, and the Kimberly Diamond Fields.