“We do not use child labour: ZCDC” 31 January 2020

State-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has denied that it uses child labour in its mining operations. In October 2019, the United States barred the trading of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe, accusing the country of using forced labour at its diamond fields in Marange, in the eastern part of the country. “There has been a lot of speculation in the media. I mean the one which really brought me to tears is that we use child labour and some journalists wrote this in the media last year,” ZCDC acting chief executive officer Roberto De Pretto told editors during a tour of Chiadzwa mine in Marange, yesterday.

… The Forced Labour Division within the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office received information that the diamonds were produced from forced labour, leading to the CBP issuing a withhold release order (WRO). However, one of the miners, the Chinese-owned Anjin, has since made a return to the Chiadzwa diamond fields. In e-mailed responses to NewsDay, a CBP spokesperson said the US Customs and Border Protection was bound by Trade Secrets Act and that they were not able to reveal specific details about companies involved, leading to the WRO.