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its compliance with international standards
South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu is reported to have told a diamond conference in Dubai yesterday that Zimbabwe was ready to trade its diamonds from Marange fields in a “normal way”.
“We are satisfied Zimbabwe has complied. It is unfair to keep the country under scrutiny,” she said.
The minister’s remarks follow a Kimberley Process decision on April 1 that allowed Zimbabwe to resume exports of gems from Marange diamond fields.
Speaking at the same event, Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu said Zimbabwe “would not be restricted” from selling its gems.
“Zimbabwe will not continue dialogue with people who are openly defiant of the Kimberley Process,” he said.
Last month the new KP chairman, Mr Mathieu Yamba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, unilaterally authorised Zimbabwe to resume exports of its Marange diamonds.
“With immediate effect, Zimbabwe is hereby authorised to resume exports from the compliant mining operations of Mbada and Canadile,” wrote Mr Yamba in a letter to KP members.
That decision allowed for the exportation of stockpile of diamonds held from the country’s two concessions as well current production.
Two companies are joint ventures with the State’s Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, and have been mining diamonds in Chiadzwa since 2009.
But the move was disputed by countries opposed to the trade of Zimbabwe’s gems, led by the United States.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers US sanctions, already has the ZMDC on the US sanctions list, and has been actively involved in preventing financial transactions from Zimbabwe’s diamond sales.
Observers have anticipated that unrestricted trade of Zimbabwe’s diamonds would contribute to the country’s economic development, especially with regard to improving cash flows in the economy.