Harare - The gathering during the ongoing parliamentary inquest into the highly secretive Zimbabwe diamond extraction, leading to the illic...
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Harare - The gathering during the ongoing parliamentary inquest into the highly secretive Zimbabwe diamond extraction, leading to the illicit siphoning of over $15 billion from the country, has opened an interesting plus shocking chapter into the underhand dealings fronted by former strongman during ousted president Robert Mugabe reign.
Ex police boss Augustine Chihuri, who cannot be located, with a $240 000 maintenance claim hanging over his head, allegedly seized a vault containing diamonds worth millions of dollars belonging to a company that was in partnership with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), before he forcibly took its claim in the gem rich Chiadzwa fields.
“Armed police officers led by one superintendent Dube came to my home and found that I had gone to collect my children from school. They then called me to say they were waiting for me. Upon my arrival, they demanded the key to the diamond vault and I refused to surrender the key, Gye Nyame project manager Itai Munyeza claimed.
Chihuri had dispatched eight armed police officers to his house in Harare, who force-marched him to the company’s offices before they forced him to hand over the key to the diamond vault.
The former police boss had been summoned to give evidence and explain how the ZRP came to partner Gye Nyame was not available to offer his story.
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“I was then detained for a few hours and I later handed them the key after realising that they were up to something nasty. They clearly said they were acting on Chihuri’s orders.
“We then wrote to the ministers of Mines and Home Affairs as well as to the President’s Office informing them that we were no longer in control. We left the police alone. As to what happened to the diamonds, only God knows,” Munyenza told the Mliswa-led committee.
“ZRP initially had five percent shareholding, but it was verbally increased to 10 percent and then to 20 percent within a space of a week.
“The police always felt the concession was theirs and yet they were our partners. We initially fought this viciously as we thought we were being set to fail. We had severe overheads even before we started operations in March 2013.
“By that time, some of the Ghanaians had already left and by June of the year, they had all been expelled,” Munyeza added.
Former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZDMC) board chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa said that he was aware the ZRP had indeed forcibly taken over the diamond vault and the claims.
“The police kept one key to the vault and Mr Munyeza kept another key but he was forced to surrender it. He surrendered the key and what happened to those diamonds, we don’t know,” he said.
Home Affairs permanent secretary Melusi Machiya claimed he was kept in the dark about the existence of the mine.
“As a ministry, we were never directly involved. We never knew that there was a concession which was granted to police. They never declared any such thing but normally, when they get something, they declare for accounting purposes, even if it is very small and so an investment of this magnitude should have been declared but it wasn’t,” he said.
Former Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo also said he was never told of the mine when he took over office. “I wasn’t briefed about this mining entity during my time at the ministry,” said Chombo.
Vice President Kembo Mohadi, who was the minister of Home Affairs at the time also did not attend the hearing as he had commitments elsewhere.
Current minister of Home Affairs Obert Mpofu — who was the minister of Mines at the time — did not give evidence as he had written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda saying he was uncomfortable to do so as long as Mliswa was chairing the hearing.
The mining of diamonds in Marange have been shrouded with controversy and accusations of plunder. In 2016, former president Mugabe made startling claims that his government could not account for a staggering $15 billion worth of Chiadzwa diamonds.
At the height of the diamond rush, Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Kusena and Gye Nyame (which had police) were some of the companies which were involved in the extraction of the gems in conjunction with the ZMDC.
It also claimed that Mugabe’s inner circle, together with some international dealers and a large network of criminals had connived in “the biggest single plunder of diamonds the world has seen since Cecil Rhodes”. - Online Sources
“We then wrote to the ministers of Mines and Home Affairs as well as to the President’s Office informing them that we were no longer in control. We left the police alone. As to what happened to the diamonds, only God knows,” Munyenza told the Mliswa-led committee.
“ZRP initially had five percent shareholding, but it was verbally increased to 10 percent and then to 20 percent within a space of a week.
“The police always felt the concession was theirs and yet they were our partners. We initially fought this viciously as we thought we were being set to fail. We had severe overheads even before we started operations in March 2013.
“By that time, some of the Ghanaians had already left and by June of the year, they had all been expelled,” Munyeza added.
Former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZDMC) board chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa said that he was aware the ZRP had indeed forcibly taken over the diamond vault and the claims.
“The police kept one key to the vault and Mr Munyeza kept another key but he was forced to surrender it. He surrendered the key and what happened to those diamonds, we don’t know,” he said.
Home Affairs permanent secretary Melusi Machiya claimed he was kept in the dark about the existence of the mine.
“As a ministry, we were never directly involved. We never knew that there was a concession which was granted to police. They never declared any such thing but normally, when they get something, they declare for accounting purposes, even if it is very small and so an investment of this magnitude should have been declared but it wasn’t,” he said.
Former Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo also said he was never told of the mine when he took over office. “I wasn’t briefed about this mining entity during my time at the ministry,” said Chombo.
Vice President Kembo Mohadi, who was the minister of Home Affairs at the time also did not attend the hearing as he had commitments elsewhere.
Current minister of Home Affairs Obert Mpofu — who was the minister of Mines at the time — did not give evidence as he had written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda saying he was uncomfortable to do so as long as Mliswa was chairing the hearing.
The mining of diamonds in Marange have been shrouded with controversy and accusations of plunder. In 2016, former president Mugabe made startling claims that his government could not account for a staggering $15 billion worth of Chiadzwa diamonds.
At the height of the diamond rush, Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Kusena and Gye Nyame (which had police) were some of the companies which were involved in the extraction of the gems in conjunction with the ZMDC.
It also claimed that Mugabe’s inner circle, together with some international dealers and a large network of criminals had connived in “the biggest single plunder of diamonds the world has seen since Cecil Rhodes”. - Online Sources
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