Mugabe Confirms Worst Fears: Nationalizes Diamond Mining
February 21, 07
Mugabe said on state television yesterday that, “Only government will mine diamonds,” adding that diamonds will fall into a “special category,” Bloomberg quoted. The president then accused the mining companies who currently operate in the country of selling their diamonds illegally.
Following the discovery of diamonds in Marange by the British exploration company African Consolidated Plc., thousands of illegal diggers descended on the area and started digging. The government ordered African Consolidated off the land and closed off the area, later handing it over to the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp.
Over the past few years, the 83-year-old president has caused concern among mining companies looking to invest in the country. In January 2006, Bubye Minerals alleged that Zimbabwean state agents were looting diamonds from the River Ranch Mine in Beitbridge after seizing it from the company.
In May 2004, Zimbabwe canceled exclusive prospecting rights belonging to miners Anglo American and Rio Tinto. Last December, Mugabe reaffirmed the government's commitment to expropriate shares from white and foreign-owned mining companies. “We have discovered platinum, gold, uranium, and now diamonds. But we don't want political heavyweights who take these mineral claims as their own,” he said.
After evicting African Consolidated in December, more than 16,000 people were arrested on charges of illegally mining diamonds and gold. At least three people died in police custody.
The World Diamond Council has expressed concern that diamonds have been smuggled out of the country; charges that were rejected by the government as “absolute nonsense,” and “politically motivated rumors” cooked up by its enemies, who are pushing for a regime change.