Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando spoke about the diamond heist that took place in January at the ZCDC run Chiadzwa diamond mines. It is alleged that group of soldiers working in cahoots with security guards at the mines connived the loot the diamonds. A press statement released by Chitando reads as follows:
On January 19, there was an intrusion of unidentified people who entered into Portal A mining area of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company. They took with them some tailings from the dumps. For the record, tailings are the residue of ore which would have been processed to extract diamonds and for which there is no value attached.
This was an isolated incident which is being investigated by the police and which should not be viewed as a threat to diamond operations in Chiadzwa.
Until investigations by the police are concluded, there is no basis to speculate on the identity of the intruders and any speculation on such identity is premature.The security of our diamond fields is of the highest standards, which fully meet Kimberly Process Certification Systems requirements and which we continue to review regularly to prevent any breaches.
It is precisely because of this that the intruders could not get to the area which contains valuable ores and processed material. The surveillance measures alerted the presence of intruders which enabled security to react accordingly.On a separate note completely unrelated to this incident, there are about 80 people who have been dismissed from Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company over various disciplinary cases.