Non-Governmental Organisations are heading for a showdown with governments over Zimbabwe’s diamonds. And it is a battle they cannot win. Diamond industry sources say members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) are now fed up with NGOs because they have become “extreme obstructionists” and have lost the respect of most KP members and the diamond industry.
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The United States has softened its position on the sale of Zimbabwe’s diamonds, though it has not yet lifted sanctions on the country. It even agreed to have the Kimberley Process ban lifted at the plenary session in Jerusalem at the beginning of this month but this was thwarted by the Canadians who felt that they had not been consulted.
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Finance Minister Tendai Biti should keep his word and scrap the vote of credit in his 2011 budget because donors are not interested in Zimbabwe’s recovery. It would even be better to budget for a deficit as long as the expenditure is on infrastructure and not consumption.
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It now seems to be becoming a pattern. Members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme meet in Israel. The major point on the agenda is Zimbabwe’s rough diamonds from Marange. Some Western governments and human rights organisations vehemently oppose the lifting of the ban on Zimbabwe’s diamonds. African diamond mining countries argue that Zimbabwe must be allowed to sell its diamonds. The diamond industry says Zimbabwe must be allowed to sell its diamonds openly because they are going to get into the market anyway. The KP meeting ends in deadlock. But not so, says Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister Obert Mpofu. The country is going to sell its diamonds anyway. Everyone leaves the meeting happy. Each claims victory.
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