The brisk trading happens openly in the Jo’burg street markets...is, as Surat diamond trader Vipul Jain explains, just the first step towards credibility for diamonds mined from South Africa’s wartorn and troubled neighbours — Angola, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. “Direct import is impossible. The traders use this route to get the Zimba stones a taint-free stature,” Shah told Tehelka...very few importers bother to check the origins of their diamonds. On paper, the consignments come from a legitimate nation, right? And for a cutting and polishing industry that is showing signs of revival after almost a year of depression, would anyone genuinely care to bother too much about the antecedents of the product? ....“Gems from Marange [Zimbabwe] travelling to India, China and Israel are blood diamonds, extracted through the persecution and oppression of those living in the area,” Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director told Tehelka, adding that importers need to make sure of the stones’ origin. [Refers to Old Mutual, BHP Billiton, Diamond Trading Corporation, De Beers, Mbada Mining, Canadile Miners]