Audit Marange firms before merger

Civic groups want the government to audit all Marange diamond firms first before consolidating their operations to shed light on their operations.

Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa has said the government will merge the six diamond firms, leaving only one or two to bring transparency and accountability in the diamond sector.

“We are deeply concerned that prior to the merger, government has not instituted independent audits on all mining operations in Marange where government is a major shareholder,” said the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) and Zimbabwe Natural Resource Dialogue Forum (ZNRDF) in a statement today.

“Audited reports on Marange diamonds are critical to provide direction to the mergers if the issue of transparency and accountability is to be of priority to government.”

They noted that an audited report on one of the diamond firms wholly owned by government, Marange Resources, was carried out at the beginning of the year “but sadly Minister Chidhakwa is yet to disclose the findings”.- The Source

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