South Africa supports Zimbabwe's bid for rough diamonds export

A communiqué from the South African Diamond & Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR) to members said the country was rallying behind Zimbabwe, a position that appears to support the stance taken by diamond producers from the African continent.

"South Africa has taken a position in support of Zimbabwe regarding exports of rough diamonds. On that note, we will accept imports of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe.

"These are to be treated like any other import of rough diamonds from any of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) participants and therefore the usual import and export processes and procedures are to be followed," said a statement to SADPMR members signed by Dithuso Kgari in charge of KP corporate communications.

The Kimberley Process (KP) is a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.

The trade in these illicit stones has fuelled decades of devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.

KPCS imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as 'conflict-free'.

A KP monitor appointed to ensure that the country meets the KP requirements in the mining of alluvial Marange rough diamonds certified that the country had fully become KP compliant but international non-governmental organisations as well as a few western countries, particularly Canada and Australia, have resisted the move to allow trade in Zimbabwe's rough diamonds due to alleged human rights violations.

The African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) in November slammed calls for an extension of a year-long ban on Zimbabwe's diamond exports, describing the motives behind the attempts to block the rough diamonds from the international market as "sinister and driven by selfish motives on the part of those two countries (Canada and Australia)".

"Zimbabwe cannot be held to ransom just because a minority of countries within the KP continue to block consensus deliberately," said ADPA executive secretary, Edgar de Carvalho, in a statement in November.

The chairperson of the African Diamond Council (ADC) and ADPA, Andre Jackson, insisted that his association fully supported Zimbabwe.

"African diamond producing countries have visibly acknowledged the wavering position and policies of the KP and several have come to the conclusion that certification scheme fails to give confidence as well as attend to the economic requirements of the ADC members.

"In addition, these policies accompanied by the KP's lack of commitment are fraudulently generated out of convenience for the back-end of the industry, while the front-end of the African diamond industry is left to bear the most profound burden," said Jackson.

"It's apparent that KP does an excellent job exposing as well as retaining their internal problems and it's even more detrimental for Africa's diamond producers when the KP and the World Diamond Council sets aside time to meet a couple of times per year without providing adequate solutions to serve the industry as a whole."

He maintained that the ADC would "advise and encourage Zimbabwe to trade diamonds originating from Marange area and we shall willingly maintain our position to occupy the lead role to facilitate every potential and legitimate transaction from our practical perspective".

"The ADC remains optimistic as we work to convince the KP into becoming more skilled at breaking each impasse down into fragments and contending with one infinitesimal issue at a time," said Jackson.