You might be guilty

In the recent news, the international watchdog, Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), responsible for making sure that blood diamonds do not get sold on any market - black or otherwise - has insisted that the diamond trade out of Zimbabwe must be examined to make sure everything is up to par.

image credit: Vicious.-

If you look down at your finger, whether you sport a wedding ring with diamonds or an engagement ring or an expensive piece of jewelry, you have to ask yourself if you have contributed in some part to the disenfranchisement of the people the diamond mines belong to.

When international companies obtain mines, for whatever mineral or resource, they usually obtain something akin to a lease. The money is paid to government officials who are appointed by the people to take care of their most basic needs. As we have seen the world over, including developed nations like Canada and the USA, governments do not always look out for the interests of the people who elected them.

Corporations need to survive and reap the benefits of the investments they have put into the mines they have acquired, so on holidays like Mother's Day and Christmas, diamonds feature in TV ads every hour quite frequently. On the last count, there were 6 ads for one hour of TV watching to try and get consumers to purchase something that will "last forever". We also have the hip-hop culture to thank for the proliferation of "bling" into the hearts and minds of young people everywhere, who sometimes purchase carbon zirconium for a lot more money than they should.

The term "blood diamond" refers to diamonds that have been purchased in a war zone to finance the war. In general people are warned against buying blood diamonds and companies will, from time to time, be open about the source of the diamonds they sell. Of course we can never know, but it is important to ask whenever you make this kind of investment. Are you inadvertently financing a war?

In any case, we will be watching with increasing curiosity at the events occuring in Harare, where the Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu, has declared that since Zimbabwe met the requirements of the KPCS at the last plenary, they must be allowed to export diamonds without restriction.

Whether this is the continued ploy of the powers that be to oust President (for life apparently) Mugabe once and for all is still up for discussion.