Harare — THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy has raised concern over the "careless manner" in which Government has handled the mining and marketing of the Chiadzwa diamonds.
This was after it emerged yesterday that Mbada Diamond Mining Company wanted to clandestinely auction diamonds mined at Chiadzwa without the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the Police Minerals Unit's knowledge.
Submissions made by various Government officials before the committee also indicated that the Mines Ministry granted Mbada diamond marketing rights.
The MMCZ is the sole marketer of all minerals mined in Zimbabwe.
Mines committee chairperson Cde Edward Chindori-Chininga (Zanu-PF, Guruve South) said they were worried by "Government's carelessness on the mining and marketing of diamonds from Chiadzwa".
MMCZ, ZMDC and the Zimbabwe Republic Police had told the committee that their institutions only came to know about a subsequently aborted diamond auction through the media.
MMCZ was represented by head of marketing Mr Masimba Chandavengerwa, with Mr Robert Karemba (chief finance officer) representing ZMDC.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Silence Pondo represented the police.
Mr Chandavengerwa said Mbada had not complied with laid-down procedures, including the need for MMCZ to make its own evaluation and the requirement to secure Kimberley Process certification.
This rendered the planned auction illegal and unprocedural, the officials said.
Mr Chandavengerwa said when they quizzed Mbada, the company claimed it never intended to auction the precious stone.
"MMCZ and the ministry were surprised when we read about it in the media and when we asked them, they said no sale was going to take place but merely saying that they were ready (to start selling)," said Mr Chandave-ngerwa.
However, Cde Chindori-Chininga said: "The intended sale was not only publicised in the newspapers, but also on television.
"We can produce a tape where Mbada made the announcement that they were going to sell diamonds.
"We should not waste our time labouring that point, because they clearly said they were going to auction the diamonds."
He said MMCZ, ZMDC and the Mines Ministry had prior knowledge of the proposed sale and only made a U-turn following an outcry.
Other committee members expressed concern over the impact the damage the intended sale - and the decision to abort - had on Zimbabwe.
Mr Chandavengerwa agreed, saying this had affected efforts to meet KP recommendations.
He said MMCZ did not have a written agreement with Mbada as was the case with other diamond miners such as Murowa and River Ranch.
"As MMCZ, we don't have a written agreement with Mbada but they have an agreement with Government.
"In their agreement, Mbada read us a clause which gave them marketing rights outside MMCZ, but they refused to give us the whole document.
"As MMCZ, we were going to reject that provision," Mr Chandavengerwa said.
The committee took great exception to the absence of a marketing agreement between MMCZ and Mbada.
Appearing before the same committee, Mr Karemba - who is also acting ZMDC chief executive - reiterated that they had not been advised of the intended diamond auction but had read it in the media.
The committee had to adjourn after Mr Karemba failed to give the names of ZMDC board members who sit on Mbada's board.
Cde Chindori-Chininga accused Mr Karemba of trying to mislead them and demanded that ZMDC's substantive chief executive officer, whom Mr Karemba said was in South Africa on business, appear before the committee.
In his evidence, Snr Asst Comm Pondo said their duty as police was to provide security at the mine, during transportation and at storage facilities in Harare but Mbada had not informed them of the proposed diamond auction.
Government shelved Mbada's sale of 300 000 carats of diamonds citing the company's failure to comply with KP requirements.
The auction was slated for January 7 at its processing facility at the Harare International Airport.
