It is also about political intrigue, ambition and a complete disregard for decency or the rule of law. But it is not just another black eye for a once great nation alone.
It is also a story of how the Kimberley Process the international initiative created to ensure that the trade in diamonds does not fund violence and civil war has lost its way.
Zimbabwe is not the only country failing to meet some or all of the basic requirements asked of diamond producing nations by the Kimberley Process. A lack of political will and weak internal controls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, allows for a steady flow of illegal diamonds onto the international market.
But Zimbabwe sets itself apart from the others because of the governments brazen defiance of universally agreed principles of humanity and good governance expected of adherents to the Kimberley Process. As such Zimbabwe poses a serious crisis of credibility for the KP, whose impotence in the face of thuggery and illegality underscores a worrisome inability or unwillingness to enforce either the letter, or the spirit, of its founding mandate.
What is occurring in the two contested diamond areas Marange in the eastern province of Manicaland and River Ranch in the south cannot be seen in isolation. They are inextricably linked to the same pursuit of political power, and the same defiance of KP protocols.
Another is that Zimbabwes diamonds are blood diamonds. This is a charge that Zimbabwe not surprisingly refutes, citing the KPs own definition that the term applies only to rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.
But that interpretation fails to recognize the current political realities of Zimbabwe, or consider how, and to what ends, political elites within Zanu (PF) are using diamonds to both jockey for power in a post-Mugabe era and destabilize the Government of National Unity, created in February 2009 with the inclusion of the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC).
These political elites are intimately tied to Zimbabwes military establishment, the Joint Operation Command, and as such constitute a rebel movement opposed to the democratic governance of Zimbabwe.
The obsessive control of the countrys diamond resources by this small renegade group threatens the viability of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in other significant ways.
There are numerous examples of Zanu officials openly defying the Kimberley Process. See for example, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu: We are going to benefit from our diamonds whether with the KP or not. (AFP, April 27, 2010); Zimbabwe Denies Kimberley Process Violations, AFP, July 1, 2009;
This has three consequences: it starves the national treasury of any benefit that could steer Zimbabwe back from economic ruin, it thwarts efforts to re-legitimize public institutions and it leads to an overall lack of confidence in the Government of National Unity in which millions of Zimbabweans have put their trust to tangibly improve their lives.
By not explicitly acknowledging these threats to Zimbabwes political stability, the
ability of the KP and key foreign actors to appropriately respond to this crisis is severely compromised. Worse still, the collective failure to heed recent historical precedents of other similarly contested diamond deposits in Africa particularly alluvial ones threatens to escalate events into another civil war to blight Africas battered reputation, sully the legitimate diamond trade and once again taint a universal symbol of love and devotion.
SCRUTINY
Zimbabwe has been under increasing scrutiny since a KP Review Mission visited Marange in July 2009 and concluded that there were credible indications of significant noncompliance with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Among their chief concerns were evidence of government involvement in human rights abuses, smuggling, and lax controls that compromised the entire chain of production.
Since that time Chiadzwa has been consumed by illegality and lawlessness, much of it done with the sanction or direct involvement of parties and individuals directly related to political elites within Zanu.
One of them is Minister Mpofu himself, who is clearly benefiting from sources of revenue above his ministerial pay grade. In early 2010 he went on a real estate shopping spree buying several properties in the Bulawayo area, including the Ascot Race Course and Casino.
ERRAND BOY
Diplomatic sources have also confirmed that he is intimately involved in the running of Canadile, one of governments joint venture partners. But despite this, it is evident that Mpofu is not in charge of what is playing out in Marange.
On more than one occasion, the minister has been exposed for being little more than an errand boy for higher powers. For example, Zimbabwes Central Intelligence Organization was blamed for breaking into his office and stealing sensitive documents in February 2010, an indignity later publicized in the Zanu-controlled daily, The Herald. He has also had to rely on the media to learn of events in Chiadzwa that he should have had advance knowledge of as Minister of Mines such as the arrival and location of new troop rotations.
Recently the military chiefs have made their involvement less subtle. On April 9, 2010, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri wrote to Mpofu asking for a mining concession for a shell company controlled by his department. He included a map and specified the areas in Chiadzwa he wished to mine.
On another occasion, military commanders secretly negotiated work permits for Chinese soldiers to mine in the disputed diamond fields in return for military hardware from China. This included them using equipment belonging to Mbada, one of the governments joint venture partners. Diamonds and Clubs, report by Partnership Africa Canada
Vast deposits of diamonds
Diamonds can theoretically be found almost anywhere in Zimbabwe, because much of the country lies on what is known as the Zimbabwe Archaean Craton which is conducive to kimberlite deposits. The craton stretches from the northeast of the country to the south and western areas, extending into Botswana which also has vast deposits of diamonds.
The border between Zimbabwe and Botswana forms what is known as the Orapa Kimberlite Track. It is in this track that some of the worlds largest diamond mines are found, including the Orapa and Lethlekane diamond mines of Botswana.
Before 2004, however, diamond production in Zimbabwe was mainly limited to accidental finds in alluvial gold diggings, with the exception of the River Ranch kimberlite mine near the South African border. Between 1997 and 1998 Rio Tinto Zimbabwe discovered the Murowa kimberlite cluster, and began mining in 2004. The mine produces typical African kimberlitic diamonds, with an average value of US$65 per carat.
Then came the Marange strike of June 2006, close to the Mozambique border. Following this discovery, a frenzied diamond rush developed. When the government failed to buy up the diamonds because of cash constraints, a thriving black market quickly developed, accompanied by rampant smuggling.
Post published in: Economy