Brian Mangwende and Clemence Manyukwe, Staff Reporters
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has outlined stringent procedures to be adopted during the depositing and withdrawal of the controversial diamonds from Chiadzwa following a Supreme Court order that all the precious stones extracted from claims belonging to African Consolidated Resour-ces (ACR) be surrendered to the central bank for safekeeping.
The lender of the last resort says it will, in liaison with the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) — the custodians of the precious stones before the Supreme Court ruling — decide on a date for all the parties concerned to attend the evaluation exercise mentioned by the courts.
In a letter to the affected parties, the RBZ said the evaluation and certification exercise will be done by the Premier Diamond Group — a diamond broking firm.
“The parcels valued shall be appropriately labeled and sealed in the presence of the monitoring committee and placed in a trunk to be secured with two different locks. All the parcels shall be recorded on a list to be signed by all committee members and a copy therefore shall be retained,” the RBZ said.
The deputy sheriff would be the custodian of the trunk keys. The trunks shall be escorted to the RBZ vaults in a gold bullion truck and issued a receipt on which the serial numbers on the trunk or similar identification on it shall be recorded.
A memorandum shall be handed over to the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, by the RBZ’s representative detailing the serial numbers of the trunks accepted by the bank, the receipts issued thereof and a copy of signatures of the committee members.
The memorandum shall be copied to all committee members.
“The withdrawal of the diamonds from the bank shall be in accordance with the order of the court or by consent of the parties,” the central bank concluded.
In January, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered that all diamonds extracted from the disputed Marange fields remain at the RBZ vaults until the protracted wrangle pitting ACR, Mbada and Canadile mining firms has been amicably resolved.
The court order meant that the 129 400 carats of rough diamonds seized from ACR and its subsidiaries by the police in 2007 as well as all other diamonds extracted from the claims thereafter should be taken to the central bank.
Chidyausiku’s order came hard on the heels of another order by Judge Charles Hungwe who said the MMCZ should release the seized gems to ACR after the High Court reversed the State’s decision to cancel the consortium’s permit to extract the gems from their claims, which they took over in 2006 following the expiry of De Beers’ Exclusive Prospecting Orders.
Earlier in January, the government had stopped the inaugural sale of 300 000 diamonds from the Marange region after it came to light that Mbada Diamonds, a joint venture between the State-run Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and a Mauritius based company, Grandswell, had flouted the Kimberley Process (KP) regulations.
A diamond monitor from the KP, Abbey Chikane, arrived in the country on Monday on a fact finding mission to ensure that the sale of any diamonds from Zimbabwe complies with world standards.
This week ACR appealed to the chief of police saying Mbada Diamonds has defied a Supreme Court verdict ordering the cessation of mining activities at the disputed Marange diamond fields.
The events come at a time when Mdada Holdings directors face possible contempt of Parliament after failing to avail themselves before the 15 member Parliamentary committee on Mines and Mining Development chaired by ZANU-PF Guruve South member, Edward Chindori-Chininga.
Last month, Chidyausiku ruled that mining operations at Chiadzwa must stop pending the finalisation of a legal dispute between government and ACR that is in the same court.
In an interview yesterday, ACR chief executive, Andrew Cranswick, confirmed that he had written to Police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri, to ensure that those in contempt of the highest court in the land are arrested.
“We have written to the Commissioner General Chihuri to arrest those who are mining illegally,” Cranswick said.
On Tuesday, the mines parliamentary committee, which is composed of eight members from ZANU-PF and seven from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) and no one from MDC-M continued with its probe of the Marange saga by holding a hearing with Mines and Mining Development permanent secretary, Thankful Musukutwa.
The previous day, a parliamentary meeting with Mbada Diamonds directors was aborted after the directors failed to turn up saying they had other commitments.
Another planned meeting by legislators with the mining companies’ directors also failed to materialise after Mbada chairman, Robert Mhlanga, turned up alone but was ordered to bring the other directors.
A source revealed to The Financial Gazette that a warning letter from the committee has been dispatched to Mbada Diamonds to ensure that its directors attend the Parliamentary hearings.
The violation of Chief Justice Chidyausiku’s order is the second after the gems were forcibly taken from the central bank.
The ACR has also written a letter to the KP complaining about the continued mining at Chiadzwa.
“In Zimbabwe, Contempt of Court is a criminal offence. Should the KPCS approve the sale of any Marange diamonds prior to the outcome of the full appeal, they will be assisting at least two criminal activities — being the trade in stolen goods, and the continued contempt of court,” part of the letter written by ACR chief executive reads.
“I wish to reiterate that we do not seek to have Zimbabwe suspended from the KPCS or any other international fora and in fact I have publicly spoken out against sanctions at a conference in London. However, we do wish a return to the observance and enforcement of law in our country and the development of the diamond deposit for the true benefit of my nation and its people."
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