parliamentary hearing to probe the affairs of the firm on Monday, forcing the lawmakers to postpone the matter to next week.
Mines and energy committee chairperson Chindori Chininga was forced to reschedule the hearings to next week after only Mbada board chairman Robert Mhlanga turned up.
The government-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) last year partnered little known Grandwell of South Africa to form Mbada Investments which is mining diamonds at the Marange field.
The ZMDC also partnered another little known South African firm, Core Mining and Minerals, in a joint-venture operation trading as Canadile Miners to exploit the Marange deposits.
The joint ventures were formed as part of measures to bring mining of diamonds at Marange in line with standards stipulated by world diamond industry watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP).
But the two companies operations in the notorious diamond field are shrouded in controversy amid revelations that some members of the boards of the two firms were once illegal drug and diamond dealers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.
The firm’s management has also been dogged by allegations that they are “fronts” of certain named politicians within President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF).
Chininga said his committee wanted to expedite investigations surrounding the aborted auction of diamonds by Mbada in January as well as its other operations for the country to start generating revenue from the precious gems.
We want to quicken the process so that Zimbabwe gets what belongs to its people.
Post published in: News