Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents

The study investigates the nature of deals between Chinese capital and the political-military elite in Zimbabwe, specifically exploring whether these interactions produce developmental outcomes or if they lean towards predatory practices. Using a case study of the Marange diamond fields, the Analyti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dube, Tadiwanashe
Other Authors: Nxele, Musawenkosi
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867614526394859520
access_status_str Open Access
author Dube, Tadiwanashe
author2 Nxele, Musawenkosi
author_browse Dube, Tadiwanashe
Nxele, Musawenkosi
author_facet Nxele, Musawenkosi
Dube, Tadiwanashe
author_sort Dube, Tadiwanashe
collection Thesis
description The study investigates the nature of deals between Chinese capital and the political-military elite in Zimbabwe, specifically exploring whether these interactions produce developmental outcomes or if they lean towards predatory practices. Using a case study of the Marange diamond fields, the Analytic Narratives and Process Tracing research methodology is applied to track the Anjin Limited deal in Marange from its inception till date. What is the nature of the deal involving Chinese diamond mining capital and the political-military elite in Zimbabwe, and how are the rents distributed? This paper argues that the Anjin deal is a high barrier arrangement that limits rents from flowing to local communities and national development. Access to this deal is only available to those with political connections and the political-military elite of Zimbabwe. The evidence supporting this argument is derived from the conspicuous absence of standard tender processes in the selection of Anjin. Further, it can be observed that due diligence processes are circumvented in favour of political connections and relationship with Zimbabwe's securocrats. Anjin's corporate strategy is seen to be extraction driven due to predatory engagement with political leadership. Consequently, the deal can be characterised as collusive and rent seeking, contributing very little to transformation, and the realisation of Zimbabwe's Vision 2030.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41625
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:53:26.769Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice
publisherStr Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41625 Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents Dube, Tadiwanashe Nxele, Musawenkosi Zimbabwe, military, Chinese The study investigates the nature of deals between Chinese capital and the political-military elite in Zimbabwe, specifically exploring whether these interactions produce developmental outcomes or if they lean towards predatory practices. Using a case study of the Marange diamond fields, the Analytic Narratives and Process Tracing research methodology is applied to track the Anjin Limited deal in Marange from its inception till date. What is the nature of the deal involving Chinese diamond mining capital and the political-military elite in Zimbabwe, and how are the rents distributed? This paper argues that the Anjin deal is a high barrier arrangement that limits rents from flowing to local communities and national development. Access to this deal is only available to those with political connections and the political-military elite of Zimbabwe. The evidence supporting this argument is derived from the conspicuous absence of standard tender processes in the selection of Anjin. Further, it can be observed that due diligence processes are circumvented in favour of political connections and relationship with Zimbabwe's securocrats. Anjin's corporate strategy is seen to be extraction driven due to predatory engagement with political leadership. Consequently, the deal can be characterised as collusive and rent seeking, contributing very little to transformation, and the realisation of Zimbabwe's Vision 2030. 2025-08-26T11:01:46Z 2025-08-26T11:01:46Z 2025 2025-08-26T10:57:58Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41625 en eng application/pdf Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Zimbabwe, military, Chinese
Dube, Tadiwanashe
Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
title_full Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
title_fullStr Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
title_full_unstemmed Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
title_short Marange diamonds autopsy: investigating the Anjin deal between Chinese capital and the political military elite of Zimbabwe, plus the distribution of rents
title_sort marange diamonds autopsy investigating the anjin deal between chinese capital and the political military elite of zimbabwe plus the distribution of rents
topic Zimbabwe, military, Chinese
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41625
work_keys_str_mv AT dubetadiwanashe marangediamondsautopsyinvestigatingtheanjindealbetweenchinesecapitalandthepoliticalmilitaryeliteofzimbabweplusthedistributionofrents