South Africa's State Diamond Trader is not delivering and the State Diamond Trader's team is ineffective, the Diamond Council of South Africa says in a hard-hitting statement, miningweekly.com reported.



The State-owned State Diamond Trader was created by the South African government to add value in South Africa to 10% of the diamonds mined in South Africa, said the report.



The council, chaired by Ernie Blom with Braen Migogo as CEO, says that restrictive regulations and various obstacles are the main contributing factors that have led to the decline of South Africa's diamond manufacturing and trading sectors.



The council's view was also that of more than 150 industry stakeholders that met at South Africa's first "town hall" meeting, which the council hosted in Johannesburg.

"Those present highlighted that South Africa's State Diamond Trader is not delivering in line with its mandate. The State Diamond Trader team is not effective," the council says, in summing up the sentiment at the "town hall" gathering, the report said.



South Africa's diamond industry, it adds, was not consulted exhaustively in the conceptualization of the State Diamond Trader, into which the private-sector company Diamdel was merged.



"For the South African diamond industry to compete effectively, there is a need to ‘level the playing field' and collectively to talk to the South African government as ‘one voice'," the council adds in reference to the participants in South Africa's diamond industry being at a disadvantage to their global peers.



The council says that there is an urgent need to bring all parties together and to strategize on South Africa being one of the key global diamond producing countries, but not a diamond hub.



It adds that South Africa needs to develop a competitive advantage over the competitive edge of countries such as India.



The "town hall" meeting was modeled on similar meetings already held in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Mumbai and Gaborone.



The Diamond Trading Company has been mandated to work with the industry in find solutions for presentation to government "at the highest level," said the report.

Progress will be reviewed at another "town hall" meeting in six months, it said.