adminseek relevance by attacking and undermining Zimbabwe’s right to sell its Marange diamonds unconditionally.
In a statement, Mr Mandiwanzira said since the Kimberly Process certified Marange and Mbada diamonds to sell their rough diamonds, a host of clueless non-governmental organisations have started making unsubstantiated allegations of human rights abuses in Chiadzwa.
“Thankfully right-thinking citizens of the world are no longer taking these Western-backed groups seriously as everyone, including the European Union, are now aware that the Marange diamonds are the most clean diamonds in the world when measured by the Kimberley Process’ blood diamonds yardstick,” said the AAG president.
Mr Mandiwanzira’s comments come after an NGO seminar held yesterday at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, to exclusively discuss Marange diamonds. The seminar brought together anti-Zimbabwe NGOs among them Crisis Coalition, Centre for Research and Development, Partnership Africa Canada, Southern Resources Watch, Solidarity Peace Trust and several other
Anti-Zimbabwe and anti-Marange diamonds organisations. All are known for their rabid views on Government’s stance in Marange.
The seminar has been organised by the Centre for Research and Development and the South African Institute of International Affairs and bankrolled by a German NGO – Heinrich Boll Stiftung.
The AAG president is leading a delegation to the seminar along with secretary-general Tafadzwa Musarara and members of their Johannesburg Chapter after a spirited fight to be involved.
After initially accepting an AAG request to take part in the seminar, officials wrote back a day later saying the seminar was full and there would be no room for AAG to participate.
“We had to fight to get our voice heard at this seminar especially given the fact that we are part of the civil society in Zimbabwe. But the seminar was clearly organised to up the tempo in the anti-Marange diamonds agenda. When we began to make our complaints louder, they quickly rushed to invite only one person from AAG. We were so surprised that a prestigious university like Wits would play host to such a partisan forum. Had it not been for our insistence to participate it would have been a Zimbabwe-bashing party. But we went there armed with a lot of facts,” the AAG president said.
The seminar in Johannesburg follows a blatantly false documentary by the BBC Panorama programme that alleged there were torture camps in Marange. The documentary was discredited by EU officials who said there was no evidence of such camps and that the EU was no longer opposing the sale of Marange diamonds unconditionally.
Another Israel diamond expert and publisher, Chaim Even Zohar, also lambasted the BBC documentary for reporting falsehoods.
Online Reporter