Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has decried the lack of diamond beneficiation in the southern African country.
He was quoted by Newsday as saying that the country had been starved of the much-needed employment while creating thousands of jobs in countries like India.
The newspaper cited “reports” that claimed over 60,000 jobs had been created in India because of Zimbabwe’s diamonds.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai who was in Botswana on a working visit praised the country for being transparent with its diamonds unlike in Zimbabwe, where the gems had become a “curse”.
“The Prime Minister said Africa had plenty of resources yet its people remain poor. He praised Botswana’s diamond industry for transforming the country’s economy,” Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Diamond Beneficiation Association of Zimbabwe chairperson Richard Mvududu said last May that the slow growth of the sector had been beset by high licence fees and poor quality of diamonds they were being offered by mining companies in the country.
“We experienced a 400 percent license fee increase from $20,000 per year to $100,000, a figure that is way above what is expected compared to other players in the region,” he said then.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
