Air Zimbabwe has bought two new A340-200 Airbus passenger planes from France in a deal that bypasses the national treasury completely. Instead, the Mbada Diamond firm, which is a joint venture with the state owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), has bankrolled the estimated US$500 million deal.
The Mbada firm is headed by Robert Mhlanga, a former air vice-marshal who has a known close relationship with the Mugabe family. Mhlanga was also in the diamond trade in the DRC when Mugabe committed Zimbabwean troops to the war there. He was also a key witness in the 2003 attempt to frame Tsvangirai, then the opposition leader, for treason. Mhlanga testified that he had contact with a former Israeli spy who claimed Tsvangirai hired him to kill Mugabe.
Mhlanga meanwhile is one of many Mugabe cronies on the European Union’s targeted sanctions list. The ZMDC is also on this list, but the airplane deal with France appears to have bypassed these restrictive measures.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has repeatedly stated that diamond revenue from the Chiadzwa fields has not reached his Ministry and earlier this year called for an investigation into the whereabouts of millions of dollars of missing revenue. He has also insisted that the cash-strapped government does not have money to pay for wage increases for the civil service. But last month the ZMDC provided money to increase the salaries, without Biti’s knowledge
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that a parallel structure is clearly in place, which openly undermines the MDC-T led Finance Ministry. He said this move by the ZANU PF friendly Mbada firm does damage to Biti’s reputation as Finance Minister; “Because it projects an image that Biti is unable to solve the economic problems of the country.”
Mashiri also pointed out that the decision to buy the planes for Air Zimbabwe will help silence speculation about other, less transparent diamond-fuelled transactions, which Biti himself has called for an investigation into.
“This more or less is like laundering the diamonds and legitimising the trade in diamonds, mined where human rights abuses are continuing,” Mashiri said.
Post published in: News