Susan Shabangu, the minister of mineral resources, took a "suicidal" position when she officially declared that Zimbabwean conflict diamonds were tradeable, according to activists.
She expressed her position on diamonds from the controversial Marange region in Zimbabwe at the intercessional meeting of Kimberley Process countries in Kinshasa during an address to civil-society organisations and delegates from the member states, Ilham Rawoot reports in her article published by Mail&Gardian Online, Africa’s first online newspaper.
"The real-world implications of what Shabangu has done is to put South African diamonds on a par with Marange diamonds," said Alan Martin, the research director of Partnership Africa-Canada, an Ottawa-based non-governmental organisation.
"South African diamonds going to Europe and America are going to be met with suspicion. That is going to be the kiss of death."
Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Research and Development in Harare, said: "If Marange diamonds are not cleared by the Kimberley Process plenary, and South Africa is importing them, the global industry won't be able to distinguish between diamonds mined in South Africa and Marange diamonds. It's self-defeating and ill-advised. It's painting the South African diamond industry in the same light as Zimbabwe."
Kathryn Sturman, the Africa resources programme head at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said: "This is really going to taint the South African industry. The diamond market is very sensitive and consumers care. The blood-diamond campaign is one of the strongest waged in recent years."
She said that, with this move, South Africa was "giving up leadership of the Kimberley Process, having been a leading member in the past".
South Africa is one of the few countries to recognise the statement made last year by Kimberley Process chairperson Mathieu Yamba, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, that the mining of the Marange diamonds was compliant with the process and therefore they were good for sale.
The European Union, the United States and Canada have ignored his statement as Kimberly Process decisions, according to its rules, have to be made by consensus. During her address, Shabangu apparently made several incorrect statements in her defence of the sale of Marange diamonds.
