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Hebert Zharare Political Editor
Centre for Natural Resource Governance, a Western-backed local non-governmental organisation, has launched a scathing attack on the European Union for lifting sanctions imposed on the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
The organisation argues that the EU should have consulted other countries that imposed embargoes on Zimbabwe before taking any action.
The countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe include Britain, America and the EU bloc members.

CNRG has been receiving funding from some Western countries to try and discredit the Marange diamonds and the lifting of the sanctions on ZMDC on September 26 this year, left the organisation in limbo.

In its report titled; “A Critique of the de-listing of ZMDC off the European Union sanctions”, released on Thursday, the organisation lashed out at the EU, mainly Belgium for spearheading the scrapping of the sanctions.

“The international community ought to speak with one voice. There is a need for all countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe to engage with each other on future engagement with Zimbabwe.

“Measures should be put in place to ensure that re-engagement with Zimbabwe is done in a manner that promotes good governance and human security.

“The discord in the EU and US policies on Zimbabwe is detrimental to efforts to normalise the situation in Zimbabwe, for the good of its citizens.

“In as much as there were consultations between the two entities leading to the imposition of sanctions, there ought to be consultations and harmony on the way forward.

“There ought to be a measure by the European Union to force European diamond business to engage with Zimbabwe in a transparent manner,” reads part of the report.

However, speaking in an interview yesterday ZMDC general manager, Mr Jerry Ndlovu, said it was shocking that some Zimbabweans were joining hands with foreigners to attack their national interests.

“It’s shocking to see how other people are so unpatriotic. They do not want to see their country and its people developing. The fight against the West becomes so painful when your countrymen are also fighting you,” he said.

CNRG argues that merely allowing Zimbabwean diamonds into Europe did not in any way enhance transparency and accountability if the governance pitfalls in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector remained.

The director of CNRG, Mr Farai Maguwu, yesterday confirmed that his organisation produced the report that started circulating on Thursday.

“We circulated that report yesterday (Thursday). There is a wrong mentality in some parts of the world that corruption is rife in Africa, yet our leaders benefit very little from the so-called corruption than businesspeople in those countries.

“We are surprised that disengagement with Zimbabwe was done at political level and re-engagement is now being done at political level. If the EU is interested in removing the sanctions, why doing it in a piecemeal than holistically? Their re-engagement is superficial,” he said.
However, in the report CNRG said; “Congress recommended that the USA consult with the EU, Canada and other suitable nations to identify and share information regarding individuals responsible for the breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe; identify assets of these individuals held outside Zimbabwe; implement travel and economic sanctions against those individuals and their associations and families.”

It is against this background that CNRG wanted the EU to consult with the US, Britain and other countries that imposed the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe before they allowed ZMDC diamonds entry into the EU.

The city of Antwerp in Belgian is the rough diamond capital of the world as 80 percent of all diamonds are handled through this city. With over 25 percent of rough diamonds now coming from Zimbabwe, Belgium wants to ensure that Zimbabwe’s diamonds passed through that city.

CNRG argues that the EU lifted sanctions on ZMDC because they were hurting the Belgian diamond sector most.
“However, Belgium’s diamond industry has weakened over the past few years, with more and more diamonds being shipped to low-wage locales — including India and China — for cutting and polishing.

“Increasing numbers of desperate Antwerp businessmen have turned to shady measures like tax fraud and money-laundering to keep their operations afloat.

“The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have produced documents that contain the names of over a hundred diamond merchants with links to Hong Kong, Malay and Singaporean companies set up to avoid Belgian taxation. The decision by EU to de-list ZMDC is a purely business decision whose sole purpose is to protect Belgium’s diamond industry,” reads the report in part.

After EU’s decision to lift sanctions on ZMDC, firms in Antwerp can now import rough diamonds and sell them to the manufacturers in India and other centres.

The companies with the expertise to cut and polish Zimbabwean diamonds are based in Antwerp and thus could not trade with ZMDC while it was under sanctions.

These companies would also want to sell their diamonds in New York where the ZMDC is under sanctions under the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.

Zimbabwe has the potential to supply around US$4 billion worth of diamonds per annum.
This flow of Zimbabwean diamonds onto the European market is set to soften the rough diamond prices of the big diamond mining companies like De Beers, Alrosa, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.