Image credit: ZCDC
Anjin is a joint venture between China’s Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFECC) and Matt Bronze, an investment vehicle controlled by Zimbabwe’s military.
The Zimbabwe Independent reports that investigations carried out with support from Information for Development Trust show that Anjin had taken over of Portal B, a diamond-rich zone in Marange.
The latest revelations confirm claims made by the Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG) last September that the political leadership of the country had unilaterally awarded the block to Anjin without consulting the ZCDC board.
Irked by the move, some ZCDC board members allegedly resigned in protest on the 25th of April 2020.
Anjin and several other companies were barred from Marange in 2016 by the then government of the late Robert Mugabe for allegedly failing to remit diamond revenue to the treasury.
This led to the establishment of the state-owned Zimbabwe Diamond Consolidated Company (ZCDC).
Anjin was, however, allowed to return to Marange in 2019 by the new administration of president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Zimbabwean president said Harare’s 2016 decision to force out alluvial diamond miners, affected production for four years.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
