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Dr Mpofu

Business Reporter
The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), has increased its staffing levels by 90 percent as the State diamond mining entity moves to raise diamond production.

The wholly Government owned entity was established in 2015 with the mandate to explore, mine, process, clean, sort, value add, market and sell Zimbabwe’s diamonds for the benefit of the fiscus, which had all along not managed to accrue benefits despite the sector’s employment. According to statistics released by the miner, it now boasts of a workforce of 1 500 full-time employees up from 800 at the same time last year.

The figure, however, does not include an extra 500 indirectly working for the miner as contract workers and indications are that the number is expected to increase as more mines are opened between 2018 and 2022.

“We are on a growth trajectory and from the previous year on jobs alone, we have grown from 800 full-time employees to 1 500 now. That’s about 90 percent increase in employment. The workforce is largely being drawn from the people of Manicaland and former miners,” said ZCDC chief executive officer Dr Moris Mpofu.

Growth has, however, not been confined to workforce as the company has also recorded a jump in production figures with latest statistics showing that they are sitting on a pile of about 1,5 million carats of diamonds. Stockpiling produce for later strategic auctioning is in line with the company’s new thrust to exit the market, which was done in March, so as to develop effective systems and capacity for best practice in cleaning, sorting and valuation of the precious stones.

This also coincides with a massive rebranding exercise, which will see the company, henceforth, opening itself to public and stakeholder scrutiny. The company has already streamlined and benchmarked its operations with Botswana, which is one of the world’s biggest diamond producers with a total contribution of 23 percent of the world diamond output having been in the industry since 1969.

“The company has turned the corner on the turbulence of a past that had shining moments, but as a group, we now have to dig deeper and go further to bring the returns, not only to this company but to the community and country watching our every step,” said Dr Mpofu.

“In sync with its Diamond Value Management (DVM) strategy, ZCDC is re-launching itself as an resurgent brand in the local and international diamond mining industry. We have embarked on an exercise to reinvent ourselves shaped by our experience and that of industry and the lessons thereof,” he said.

“The brand that we are launching will market itself through production effectiveness and efficiency, sustainable community development projects and impactful contribution to the fiscus,” he said.

ZCDC said next year will also see them embark on a charm offensive in search of internationally recognised standardisation by pursuing ISO 14001, 9001 and 18001 certifications.