Diamonds Mining Fracas; ZCDC Board Members Resign After Mnangagwa Gave China Diamond Fields In Chiyadzwa
May 1, 2020
"Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) board members have resigned en-masse in alleged protest over government’s decision to award part of Chiadzwa diamond fields to Chinese firm, Anjin, citing lack of consultation.
Anjin Investments, jointly owned by Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company Ltd of China and Matt Bronze, an investment vehicle controlled by the army is expected to resume diamond extraction in July this year after being controversially barred from operating in the resource-rich Chiadzwa area in 2016.
Business Times is reliably informed that the decision to award Portal B (rich in resource), which is part of Chiadzwa diamond fields, was communicated through Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando.
In protest to the decision by the Ministry, the ZCDC board members led by chairman Killian Ukama tendered their resignations citing lack of consultation.
They said the unilateral action undermined the authority of the board.
“ZCDC board members resigned recently registering their displeasure over the parcelling out of Portal B in Marange to Chinese Anjin.
The directive is said to have come from President Mnangagwa through Mines Minister Chitando after his trip to China in 2018,” the source said.
The ZCDC board consisted of Ukama (chairman), Ellah Muchemwa, Elizabeth Nerwande Chibanda, Zenzo Nsimbi, Esau Chiadzwa, Alexander Mukwekwezeke and Niya Mtombeni.
Ukama referred all questions to the Mines and Mining Development Ministry.
“I cannot comment on that issue because the appointment of boards is the prerogative of the ministry through the minister,” Ukama said.
Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando told Business Times that the Ministry was currently reviewing board composition in all its parastatals and companies under its wing, adding that ... "
https://www.zimeye.net/2020/05/01/diamo ... chiyadzwa/
