Professor Gudyanga knows better … Farai Maguwu
Your Excellency, in early March, you made a stunning revelation: the diamond mining companies in Marange had robbed Zimbabwe of over $13 billion. You revealed that out of a possible $15 billion in revenues, Zimbabwe had only realized a paltry $2 billion. ‘Lots of smuggling and swindling has taken place and the companies that have been mining, I want to say robbed us of our wealth’, you said.
You are the latest and most senior government official who has publicly complained about the looting of our diamonds. Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti repeatedly raised a red flag on Marange diamonds but his claims were dismissed by government apologists as false. The 2009-13 Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy led by the late Edward Chindori-Chininga raised several crucial issues pointing to massive corruption in Marange but again the report was frowned at by those who should have utilized it to plug the leakages; Chindori-Chininga was tragically killed in a car crash barely a week after presenting his report in parliament in 2013. As a civil society activist I too made several calls for good governance in our diamond sector based on evidence of looting and human rights abuses in Marange; this whistle-blowing landed me in jail in 2010.
Read more….Missing $13 Billion Diamonds Revenues
Robbing their own people , disgraceful