by Grace Chekai

Mines and Mining Development, Minister, Winston Chitando on 23 April dissolved the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company following the resignation of board chairperson Killian Ukama on the same day citing personal business commitment.

The resignation of Ukama follows a similar resignation in January 2020 by Elizabeth Nerwande who was a board member.

In her resignation, Nerwande cited heavy workload.

Nerwande is the incumbent president of Confederation of Mines Zimbabwe (CoMZ) and Cooperate Affairs Executive at Mimosa mining company.

The resignation by two board members came at a time when parastatals board was already short staffed.

The former board comprised of Ukama, Nerwande, Esau Chiadzwa, Niya Mtombeni, Alexander Mkwekwezeke, Ellah Muchemwa and Zenzo Msimbi.

A contact within the Ministry of Mines revealed that Minister Chitando also appointed an interim board, effective 24 April and a new substantive board is expected to be appointed in eight to ten weeks.

The new interim board comprise of Wellington Pasipamire who is the Chairperson, Jemsta Chiningiga, Charles Tahwa, Peter Chimbedza and Slava Chela.

Minister Chitando said the members of the board dissolved can re-apply if they are interested.

Meanwhile, the parastatal has been directed by the Government not to purchase any further joint venture that was negotiating for the external partners.

As part of the recovery strategy ZCDC has   been tasked by Ministry of mines to identify low hanging fruits as part of the turnaround strategy.

In a cabinet memo submitted to the Ministry during the weekend of 18-19 April, ZCDC had identified the low hanging fruits.

The low hanging fruits entail the fast tracking of the joint venture partnerships between the ZCDC and the South African companies Rera, Dumela and Atcofield, resumption of operations at River Ranch and commencement of operations at the 450 metric tonne recovery plant in Chiadzwa.

The low hanging fruits which were identified as part of the turnaround strategy will see a significant improvement in the diamond industry.