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Knives out for De Beers

23 Feb, 2018 - 06:02 0 Views
Knives out for De Beers

eBusiness Weekly

Parly committee starts gathering evidence

Case could end up at international arbitration

Tinashe Makichi
Parliament has started gathering substantive evidence to build a case against the world’s leading diamond trading, exploration and mining company, DeBeers Group which collected and exported diamonds when it held only an Exclusive Prospecting Order in the Marange area between 1993 and 1999..

Concern was raised in Parliament with legislators agreeing to gather evidence to sue De Beers.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy has since started inviting people it believes can help adduce the evidence, including the Environmental Lawyers Association of Zimbabwe.

DeBeers had licence to explore the Marange area for almost 15 years and according to environmental lawyers, the licence was illegally extended. Efforts are underway to take up the case with Government and thereafter institute legal action against De Beers.

Farai Maguwu of the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association while giving oral evidence in Parliament this week said it was possible to sue the mining giant on available evidence. The lawyers have also already gathered much of the requisite proof.

“The Marange scandal did not start in 2009, but must be traced back to 1993 when De Beers acquired an Exclusive Prospecting Order for Marange, not that they wanted to explore anything, but they were mining.

“De Beers illegally extended its EPO against the laws of this country beyond 1999. Section 94 of the Mines and Minerals Act is very clear on the length of exploration in this country.

“It said no order shall be granted for a period in excess of three years, but an order may be extended for a further six months by the minister under the recommendation of the board,” said Maguwu.

“A company that does exploration for a period of three years will be violating the law and that was criminal since De Beers did exploration for 13 years. During this time, De Beers was not exploring but it was mining. Was Government not aware of this scandal?”

When De Beers was doing exploration, villagers did not know the value of the diamonds as they had never traded in them. However, they collected the gems and kept them in their homes.

Initially, only a few people who worked for De Beers were aware that the company was mining and taking away diamonds..

Maguwu said De Beers mined at Ushunje, Mountain where Mbada Diamonds’ concession was, and took the ore to Bezel Bridge for sorting. This only came to light after the De Beers had left.

He added that Zimbabwe could sue countries like China, United Arab Emirates and India at the United Nations Court of Arbitration over diamond value that was allegedly illegally exported.

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee Mines and Energy chairperson Themba Mliswa also raised the same concerns and highlighted that companies like De Beers must face the law.

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