Time to beneficiate our diamonds

After more than a decade of economic downturn spawned by the illegal western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, expectations are high that Zimbabwe is coming out of the woods.
The hope of many Zimbabweans is mainly underpinned by the abundance of diamonds that are being mined in the Marange Diamond Fields, which are expected to bring in the much needed liquidity.

While the fact that the diamonds are an economic game changer is not in doubt, what has stifled their impact on the economy is the marketing which seems chaotic.

It is a fact that the diamond industry has been somehow a closed area to many, whose deals appear to be done underground.
But the question which confronts Zimbabweans now is on what to do with the marketing of the diamonds.

Should the marketing of the gems be an open case where everyone can take stock, or should it remain like what it is today where a few are aware of what is really going on?

For instance, why should Zimbabwe continue selling its gems in a way that seems not to bring any benefits? The answer lies in changing our way of handling the gems.

It has proved with the way we are doing business that selling unprocessed gems is not beneficial to the country.
The best way is to cut and polish the diamonds so that they can fetch the highest possible prices on the international market.

This is why we view the visit by a Zimbabwean delegation to Antwerp, Belgium last week to study the world’s biggest diamond trading hub as an eye opener.

It must dawn on everyone that there are no short cuts in realising the true value of our gems except to add value to them before bringing them to auction.

A lot of lessons can be learnt from how the Antwerp World Diamond Centre handles diamond marketing.
With state-of-the-art technology available, the AWDC has been able to turn diamonds into real gems that fetch huge financial rewards. Compared to what is happening at Antwerp, our handling of diamonds trade looks very amateurish.

What we need to learn from the diamond trading hub is that we need to adopt technologies that enable us to process the diamonds locally, add value to them and then export them to the international market.

Diamond trading is about getting value from the gems and there were buyers who were taking advantage of the fact that we could not sell the diamonds openly on the international market. This situation was compounded by the fact that we sold the diamonds in their rough form, all of which impacted on revenue.

Our diamonds are obviously fetching low prices because they are not processed.
This gives an advantage to those who buy them, process them and then take them to the market where they fetch even five times more than what they would have offered us.

This is why we support the idea of setting up our own diamond trading centre, equipped with all the necessary equipment to be able to extract real value from the gems. While it sounds a tall order for us to have such a perfect trading hub, the venture is not insurmountable after all.

The trick is to get a market which gives us the real value for the diamonds, then bit by bit, use the proceeds to embark on establishing such a trading centre.

At places like Antwerp, our diamonds arrive in their raw state, but can be taken through all the necessary processes like cleaning, cutting, polishing and valuation.

At the end of such a process, the price of the diamonds would be much higher for the benefit of the nation.
This a process that we are not able to do now because our system has not been perfect and that we lack all the required equipment. But the lingering question is on whether or not our diamonds will eventually reach such markets as Antwerp where buyers are already eager to lay their hands on them.

What is needed is the political will to push for the diamonds to be sold transparently and at places where they fetch their actual value.
What is not in doubt is that our diamonds from Marange will dominate the world market, but what is needed is to make the right choices. We call for due diligence in assessing possible markets so that our gems fetch the right prices.