The Herald (Harare)
6 September 2007
The House of Assembly on Wednesday passed without amendment the Precious Stones Trade Amendment Bill that seeks to deal with illegal trade in diamonds following the recent discovery of the mineral in some parts of the country.
Both sides of the House were in agreement that the Bill was a necessary piece of legislation to curb leakages of diamonds as it deprived the country of revenue to finance developmental projects.
Mines and Mining Development Minister, Amos Midzi told the House during the second reading speech that a major amendment in the Bill was inclusion of industrial grade diamonds under definition of precious stones.
“The definition must embrace all forms of precious stones,” he said. Mr Midzi said the Bill also sought to introduce custodial sentences for illegally dealing in or possession of precious stones which previously existed before the Criminal Penalties Amendment Act of 2001. Mandatory penalties for unlawful dealing in or possession of gold was introduced in the Gold Trade Act by amendments to the Finance Bill of 2006, but the same was not done for precious stones, leading to inconsistency in the treatment of offenders who deal in gold and those that deal in other precious stones.
The Bill would also provide protection of the public from unscrupulous individuals that maliciously plant precious stones on their persons or their premises to have them arrested, said Midzi.
While supporting the Bill, Binga MP Joel Gabbuza expressed concern at the mandatory sentence of five years which he said was not commensurate with the value of the mineral. Gabbuza compared the mandatory sentence of five years that the Bill was proposing to that of nine years imposed on people convicted of stock theft, saying the two did not show consistency.
“We need to re-look at that if we really have to curb leakages,” he said.
He also expressed concern at the omission by the Bill of reference to companies that were caught dealing in precious stones as well as the provision giving people found with precious stones on their person or premises the benefit of doubt, saying it opened gaps for dealing with the cases.
Bulawayo South MP, David Coltart objected to the imposition of mandatory sentences saying it removed discretion from the courts to consider individual cases, saying some people were driven to deal in the stones out of greed while the economic situation drove others to do it.
“We need to incorporate in the Bill aggravating and mitigating factors otherwise we might create terrible injustice in our justice delivery system,” he said.