The conference, which will take place in Victoria Falls, is being hosted by the Mines Ministry and will feature key diamond industry leaders. ZANU PF’s Mines Minister Obert Mpofu will host the meeting, which will also feature a range of speakers including Eli Izhakoff, Chairman of the World Diamond Council, Ernie Blom, President Elect of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, and Abbey Chikane, the monitor assigned to oversee Zimbabwe’s murky diamond trade.
Mpofu has been quoted as saying that the conference “aims to highlight the accomplishments of Zimbabwe in the diamond industry,” and that “Zimbabwe stands ready to give the world full transparency on its achievements as a major diamond producer.”
The second day of the conference will see representatives from Zimbabwe’s mining companies addressing the delegates. This will include representatives from the main companies at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, Mbada and Anjin.
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the conference is being held “against a backdrop of ongoing abuses, smuggling, and dodgy dealings at the diamonds mines.”
Mashiri explained that the diamond mines remain the centre of controversy, with little clarity about the goings on there. There is also speculation about the use of the millions of dollars being generated from diamond sales, money that is not being fed to the national Treasury.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has admitted that Anjin has not remitted anything to treasury, despite being granted a mining licence in the understanding that it was a joint venture. It has since emerged that this partnership is not with Zimbabwe’s government, but with the Mugabe aligned army, raising concerns that the money is being funnelled to ZANU PF ahead of a fresh election.
Mashiri said these are the concerns that Minister Mpofu will probably try and diminish at the November conference, which is taking place just weeks before an annual plenary session of the international diamond trade watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP).
The KP has cleared Zimbabwe for international sales despite widespread protests about this decision. Mashiri said that ongoing concerns raised by civil society will feature highly at the November plenary, and the Zimbabwe conference will be an attempt “to legitimise what is happening at the diamond mines.”
“Mpofu will want to silence civil society ahead of the KP meeting. This conference in Victoria Falls will provide an opportunity to paint a picture to the international market that all is well in Zimbabwe,” Mashiri said. SW Radio Africa
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