admincountry the all-clear to trade in her Marange diamonds unfettered, came a surprise damper that our neighbour to the north also wants to join the KPCS to sell diamonds with no conditions attached. Zambia is the world’s leading copper producer, but never been known to possess any diamonds. Since the precious stone cannot be manufactured, like clothing or any other consumer goods, a huge question mark hangs over the source of the diamonds that Zambia wishes to sell.
Suspicion therefore reigns in the minds of Zimbabweans that the diamonds that Zambia wants to sell could be the ones spirited out of here across the porous border between the two countries. Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu said recently that the country was losing a lot of her diamonds to smugglers who spirited the much-sought after gem across the common boundary into Zambia and Mozambique.
Now, if after Zimbabwe won a hard fought battle by slamming the shutters on western imperialists who tried to apply a kind of force majeure on the sale of our diamonds, an otherwise friendly sister state become hell-bent on cashing in on the contraband to swell her coffers, something must be done and done urgently and fiercely to stop the rot.
Minister Mpofu appears to have thrown his arms in the air in despair when saying our neighbours wanted to trade our diamonds but that there was nothing that Zimbabwe could do about it. Of course, there is a great deal that this country can do to forestall what could clearly qualify as economic sabotage of a neighbour and a members of the Sadc to which Zambia also belongs. To begin with, Zimbabwe might wish to use her diplomatic mission in Lusaka to verify the story of that country’s desire to enter the diamonds trade, and verify also the source of the precious stone, whose abundance in Zimbabwe causes consternation in Western countries which want to control Zimbabwe through a tight reign on our economy.
But this is also assuming that Zimbabwe has done her research well enough to confirm that it is her smuggled diamonds with which Zambia wants to enrich herself. If there is no joy on that front, Zimbabwe should approach Sadc which should in turn make Zambia account for the source of the diamond that country wants to sell internationally.
It is this pen’s humble belief that Sadc should have in place protective structures for the economics of member states so that the regional economic grouping is seen to be big and strong not just in terms of the numbers that constitute it, but also in terms of the rates of growth of the economies of the member states.
Smuggling rings operating anywhere in the region should be regarded as anathema with harsh legal sanctions poised to deter the criminals. On their part, countries sharing common borders should regard smugglers as number one on their enemy list and co-operate with each other to effectively police their boarders. It is no exaggeration to say that if not checked, cross-border smugglers can seriously alter the chemistry of good neighbourliness; so they should be hit and hit really hard to make them think twice before indulging in the criminal act.
For Zimbabwe, while the smuggling front is being taken care of, concerted efforts should be made to upgrade the value of our diamonds by cutting and polishing them before selling them as finished products.
Needless to say, secondary industries are a major step towards economic development in the world today. It is all very well to boast primary industries handling our raw materials, but these alone do not provide value addition. No small wonder then that in spite of the African soil pulsating with wealth the continent remains underdeveloped with foreign countries that buy and process raw materials adding layer upon layer of fat on themselves by selling back to Africa.
- Stephen Mpofu is the former editor of Chronicle.
In fact, the question of value addition to Zimbabwean products should apply across the board with experts engaged to impart the necessary skills on processing raw materials to finished products, with value added to them.Only when that happens will the continent transcend its present status of being underdeveloped.Coming back closer to home, it is not difficult to imagine what it would feel like for Zambia were the bromide in point reserved with Zimbabwe suddenly announcing that it wanted to sell copper to the world.Since, like diamonds, copper do not grow on trees for a country to harvest, like leaves, for sell or for hobos to gather up from under the tree and wander off to illegal markets for copper cables, Zambia must react by telling “Zimbabwe not to reap where God’s hand has not sown for you.”An arbitrator would perhaps intervene by telling the feuding parties “to let sleeping dogs lie” by staying within the confines of their respective mineral endowments.For those who may not know it Minister Mpofu trained as a journalist in Zambia and successfully practised there in the mid-70s before proceeding on a scholarship to India where he switched disciplines to read for a degree in commerce instead before heading back to an independent and free Zimbabwe where he has carved out a deep niche for himself.
Online Reporter