Legislators will use the question time next Wednesday to also quiz
Mpofu on the operations of the government's Zimbabwe Mining and
Development Corporation (ZMDC) at Chiadzwa that have remained shrouded
in controversy.
According to the parliamentary order paper, legislators will ask Mpofu
questions on the Chiadzwa diamond fields, including the alleged burial
in mass graves of 83 diamond panners.
It was not immediately clear whether the legislators who will pose
questions to Mpofu belonged to the two MDC formations or to President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party.
However, the order paper makes it clear questions on the alleged
Chiadzwa burials would be raised during the Question With Notice'
time when Cabinet ministers are expected to give detailed and factual
information on specific matters raised by parliamentarians.
The Chiadzwa diamond fields near the eastern city of Mutare have been mired in controversy since its discovery in 2006.
There have been reports of massive looting of the diamond fields by
senior government officials and illegal diamond dealers and miners
while the army and police sent to guard the fields are said to have
themselves turned to illegal mining and selling of diamonds.
But human rights groups say soldiers and police only turned to illegal
mining of diamonds after first murdering scores of illegal miners and
local villagers in a bid to force them off the Chiadzwa fields.
Mpofu last week denied in Parliament that state security agents had
killed diamond panners at Chiadzwa, saying the government was aware of
only three deaths of illegal miners resulting from fights among the
diamond diggers who often implemented the law of the jungle amongst
themselves.
In response to a question from legislators why it took the government
so long to secure the diamond fields, Mpofu said it had taken rather
too long for the state to realise that there were diamonds at Chiadzwa.
Mpofu also revealed to Parliament that the ZMDC was extracting up to 60
000 carats a week worth US$600 000 from Chiadzwa diamond fields.
Human rights groups and villagers near Chiadzwa claim that a joint
police and army crackdown codenamed "Hakudzokwi" (You Won’t Return) saw
more than 100 illegal diamond miners killed as the government sought to
restore order at the diamond fields and pave way for commercial
investors to come in and mining the diamonds.
The mining of diamonds at Chiadzwa is currently at the centre of a
probe by an international team from the United Nation's world diamond
regulatory body, the Kimberley Process.
The UN is also investigating reports of mass murder at the diamond
fields and the international team, which monitors the trade in blood
diamonds, which was in Zimbabwe two weeks ago will report back on the
allegations of killings at Chiadzwa.
ZimOnline.
Post published in: News