This comes in the wake of the BBC Panorama investigation, screened last week, that revealed horrific military brutality in the area – include mass murder, rape, torture and forced labour.
This same minister has, on several occasions, banned a Parliamentary committee from visiting the mines. The committee members have still not been able to visit the site – despite the fact that they are representing the people of Zimbabwe and tasked with investigating the goings on there.
It is quite clear that Mpofu, who has become fabulously wealthy (he recently bought Ascot Race Course in Bulawayo as well as several office blocks – for cash), has something to hide at Chiadzwa.
We hope that the EU accepts his invitation and conducts its own investigation into the appalling human rights abuses that have taken place there, and are presumed to be continuing.
It is vital that the EU uses this opportunity to conduct a robust investigation. This will be no easy task, as the ministry obviously intends to do a whitewash job in order to be able to sell the diamonds on the open market.
We also hope that in this new spirit of openness the Parliamentary committee will also now be allowed to visit, and conduct its own investigations. There should be nothing outside the remit of Parliament – especially a national asset that is suspected of being systematically plundered, to the detriment of the people of Zimbabwe.
The Panorama expose provided irrefutable evidence, which cannot be dismissed lightly. Flying some diplomats in for a sanitised tour of the mines is not going to make this evidence go away. Nor will it dispel the grisly images of the suffering of those attacked by dogs, thrashed by soldiers, gang raped or buried in mass graves.
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga