Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said it has lost the “war” on Marange diamonds.
The party, which is in a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party had been pushing for transparency in the diamond fields as revenue had been failing to come forward as anticipated.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti had projected revenue of $600 million from Marange diamond sales this year but only $25 million had been remitted to government coffers to date.
“I admit that as a party we lost the war on diamonds,” said MDC’s Jameson Timba, who is also a Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
“However, we are maintaining that there should be more transparency in the way the diamonds are sold.”
Meanwhile, Timba said his party – if elected into power in the next plebiscite - would renegotiate all deals signed between the Zanu PF government and foreign investors like China, especially in Marange.
He claimed that the Chinese owned 90 percent of Anjin, while the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) controlled the remaining 10 percent.
He said the Chinese had been given the huge stake in Anjin to offset a $500 million debt for arms of war delivered to Zimbabwe by Beijing.
However, the ownership of Anjin had been a subject of much controversy and confusion.
Some reports claimed that a Zimbabwean army firm owned a 40 percent stake in Anjin, with the Chinese controlling 50 percent, while ZMDC owned the remainder.
Others claimed that Anjin was jointly owned by Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group of China and Matt Bronze, a wholly-owned Zimbabwean entity.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
