Proceeds from Marange Diamonds Pocketed by Zanu PF and Gono
Lance Guma
Several months ago it was reported that there were buckets of rough diamonds kept inside the vaults of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. These were sold on the black market and used to keep the ZANU PF regime afloat, when ordinary Zimbabweans were on their knees and battling the destroyed economy. Last week the country’s security chiefs convened a press conference in Mutare and basically told the unity government to go to hell, after it gave them a half-hearted instruction to gradually withdraw from the diamond fields. This followed a report from the anti-blood diamond group, the Kimberly Process, implicating the army in mass murder and child labour practices.
All these events have combined to expose the key role played by the diamonds (and the country’s other mineral wealth) in keeping Mugabe in power. The diamonds, as one analyst put it, helped Mugabe keep the army happy at a time when his government did not have the money to pay proper salaries. With the soldiers turning the diamond fields into a lawless ‘wild west’ there was, and continues to be, no accountability over proceeds and this suits ZANU PF in the current unity government. Mugabe’s reluctance to remove Central Bank governor Gideon Gono, even at the cost of the coalition government, has pretty much given the game away. Gono remains a key figure in this diamond syndicate.
Newsreel spoke to a businessman who explained how the transactions are supposed to work. The Central Bank buys the diamonds from those doing the mining. The bank then sells the diamonds outside the country and retains the profit. This profit, or agency fee, then goes into a fund run by the Reserve Bank. The government, through the Finance Ministry, will only get money from these transactions via taxes. Given that the former mine owners in Marange, the London-listed African Consolidated Resources, were kicked out of the claim, it means the army is effectively mining the diamonds, while exploiting cheap labour from both adults and children in the area.
Mines Minister Obert Mpofu last week told a mining publication that there was no dispute over ownership of the Marange diamond fields. This is despite owners African Consolidated Resources still challenging the matter in court. Mpofu insists the government is the sole owner of the claim, through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. But judging from last week’s press conference in which police, army and CIO provincial chiefs in Mutare put their foot down and said they were not leaving the diamond fields, the army appears to be running the show.
The big tragedy is that with an estimated US$200 million per month being generated from the various diamond mines in the country, that money could take care of many of Zimbabwe’s economic problems. Sadly senior figures in the army and ZANU PF just continue to line their pockets.
It’s a reminder once again, that rebuilding a country is never about a shortage of money – just a shortage of political will.
Written By: Lance Guma, SW Radio Africa
Posted by Sakhile Malaba
on July 13, 2009. Filed under Local News.
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