Addressing a conference convened by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Heinrich Boell Foundation on the subject of Zimbabwe's Diamonds, two prominent Zimbabwean civic leaders called for legislation to regulate the proper extraction and management of diamond revenues to benefit the Zimbabwean people.
Dewa Mavhinga of the Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition (ZCC) and Farai Maguwu of the Centre for Research and Development said they believed in the accurateness of Finance Minister Tendai Biti's reported estimates that at least US$1 billion in potential revenue to the national treasury remained unaccounted for.
Biti has been fighting a seemingly losing battle to exert more control over the diamond revenues from the Marange diamond fields which the state seized in 2008 after a diamond rush by illegal panners.
Mavhinga and Maguwu said the disappearance of diamond revenues was largely a result of the parallel fiscus that was being run by ZANU PF outside Biti's official finance ministry. From that parallel fiscus, diamond revenues were directed to uses that did not benefit the Zimbabwean people.
Maguwu presented a detailed report which showed that illegal mining activities by members of the state security apparatus still continued at Marange with the diamonds being smuggled through Mozambique. Other concessions at Marange were now being mined by consortiums of the Zimbabwean government and several Chinese firms.
However, a pro-Mugabe civic organisation, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), electrified the conference by vociferously refuting Mavhinga and Maguwu's claims.
AAG President and former prominent state media journalist, Supa Mandiwanzira, said all diamond revenues were accruing to the state and being used to pay civil servants, among other noble causes.
He refuted claims that Mugabe and his cronies were running a parallel fiscus to fleece diamond revenues. He challenged anyone with information that senior security officials were enriching themselves from diamond revenues to come forward, promising to have such officials prosecuted should evidence be made available.
Mandiwanzira was asked to explain how Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, a close ally of Mugabe and the man at the centre of diamond deals, had become so filthy rich to reportedly own prime real estate in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo at a ministerial salary of, until recently, $150 monthly.
He was also asked to explain how military officials linked to the illegal diamond trade had become obscenely rich.
Mandiwanzira said he had no mandate to speak on behalf of Mpofu and the military but said he could only presume that any senior state officials perceived as being rich had earned their wealth from their other businesses, mainly in farming and other sectors.
Organisers of the conference came under fire for not inviting the Ministry of Mines and companies mining at Marange to defend themselves against claims by the civic groups. It was explained that officials of the parliamentary portfolio committee on mining had been invited and confirmed participation but failed to pitch up.
Mandiwanzira also launched a scathing attack on Maguwu, whom he accused of being an MDC activist. Even the head of the EU delegation in Zimbabwe, Aldo Dell'Ariccia, was not spared by Mandiwanzira. But an apparently angry Dell'Ariccia, hit back at Mandiwanzira for suggesting that EU sanctions on Zimbabwe prevented the legal sale of Zimbabwean diamonds into the European Union.
Claude Karemba of the Southern Africa Resource Watch said South Africa should use its mediation role to help foster transparency in the management of Zimbabwe's diamond revenues. He said economic governance issues should have been included in the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
He urged the establishment of a SADC charter on resources to define and prescribe how minerals should be extracted and managed by regional countries. Dell'Ariccia urged Zimbabwe not to implement its threat to pull out of the Kimberly Process.
Post published in: News