MPs want diamonds sold through RBZ

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy has called for the auctioning of diamonds through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) as part of measures to promote transparency.

The apex bank is already in charge of gold trade in the country through Fidelity Printers and Refiners.

In a report released in Parliament on Tuesday, the committee, which is chaired by Dr Daniel Shumba, expressed concern over low diamonds revenue.

"The committee noted that despite the country being amongst the top diamond producing countries in the world, up to date, no significant earnings have been realised from the diamond mining.

"Diamond mining continues to be shrouded by lack of transparency. The committee, therefore, recommends that Government should consider treating diamonds the same way as gold and auction diamonds through the RBZ for purposes of transparency and accountability," reads part of the report.

President Mugabe is also on record saying the country has not received meaningful returns from Chiadzwa diamond fields and that the private companies that were mining the precious stone could have robbed the state of billions of dollars.

The Government has since instituted a forensic audit into the seven companies that operated in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. As part of efforts to promote transparency and accountability in the diamonds sector, the Government has consolidated diamonds operations in Chiadzwa through the formation of the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).

The State-owned ZCDC, which was formed in 2016 and started operating the same year, is required to produce audited financial accounts to deter the possibility of fraud on its activities.

The firm is in discussions with local banks to secure about $300 million credit lines to finance the purchase of mining equipment and expansion of its operations.

Last year, ZCDC secured a $30 million facility from RBZ for the purchase of equipment from Belarus.