[2] Production from Marange is controversial due to ongoing legal wrangles and government crackdowns on illegal miners and allegations of forced labour.
[8] In September 2010, the Zimbabwe High Court formally revoked a ruling from a year earlier that restored mining rights to British-based, African Consolidated Resources Plc.
[11] Anjin is a joint venture between the Chinese firm Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group (AFECC) and the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.
By mid-December 2006, around 10,000 illegal artisanal miners were working very small plots at Marange, and an immediate water, sanitation and housing crisis developed.
In 2008 some Zimbabwean lawyers and opposition politicians from Mutare claimed that Shiri was the prime mover behind the military assaults on illegal diggers in the diamond mines in the east of Zimbabwe.
Although Manicaland Provincial Governor Christopher Mushohwe said that the move had the full support of the local traditional leaders,[26] Chiadzwa villagers protested the resettlement.
[28] In September 2010, the Zimbabwe High Court formally revoked a ruling from a year earlier that restored mining rights to British-based, African Consolidated Resources Plc.
On August 11, buyers flew into the country's capital, Harare, from all over the world, including Israel, India, Lebanon and Russia to capitalise on the sale of over US$1.5 billion worth of diamonds.
In December 2013, the first European Union Marange auction took place in Antwerp and fetched $10 million for 300,000 carats, working out to a price of just over $30 per-carat on average.
[30] The BBC claims Zimbabwe's security forces have a torture camp in the Marange diamond fields;[31] methods include severe beatings, sexual assault and dog mauling according to alleged victims.
[32] In December 2008, the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, representing non-governmental organisations which participate in KP, called for Zimbabwe's suspension.
Instead, it recommended and then implemented with the compliance of the Zimbabwean government a 12-month working plan to monitor diamonds mined from the Marange field.
[34] On 6 May 2010, the KP Chair reminded all participants that they should maintain vigilance to ensure that Marange diamonds comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
The five-page notice[35] also included photographs and descriptions of rough diamonds from the Marange fields: "On first sight, strong 'gravel' impression resembling rounded pebbles in a riverbed.
Look like tumbled and abraded coarse chips of broken beer bottles with colours ranging from dark brown to black to darkish green.
[38] The New York Times reported on Monday, 5 December 2011[39] that Global Witness had withdrawn from the Kimberley Process coalition, saying that it felt the effort no longer effectively ensured that conflict diamonds did not make their way onto retail markets.
While the organization had expressed concerns over the operation of the Kimberley Process for some time, the final straw leading to its withdrawal was the decision to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds from the Marange fields, where there have been reports of widespread human rights abuses by government security forces.
The CIO listed specific steps taken to numerically rig the polls: "Registering less than ten real voters on “any given day with direct command from Nikuv” and the Party; Populating the voters’ roll before, and during, elections to counter unfavorable voting outcomes; Parallel registration and mobilization for “statistical maneuvering, depopulation and population of hostile constituencies,” in coordination with the Registrar’s Office and an official of the Chinese Communist Party identified in the documents as Chung Huwao; Obstructing registration in the 18-35 age brackets, and over-registering voters in the 35-90 age brackets; Using housing schemes to “re-orient beneficiaries” and log them on the voting roll; Deliberately congesting the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission registration by “security personnel and trusted lieutenants to delay the process as advised by Nikuv”.