Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee should first summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to answer questions before it summons him, arguing that anything he has to say is, at law, hearsay and of no value to the Committee's cause Former President Robert Mugabe has told close friends and advisers that Temba Mliswa's Parliamentary Committee must first summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to parliament before they even think of summoning him. Mugabe has so far totally ignored the summons delivered to him twice. The tactic he has used is one of simply not acknowledging receipt of any of the summons delivered to him. His aides have also been told not to tell Mliswa anything. In a stunning revelation of how government functioned in his last days, Mugabe insisted two nights ago (on Sunday night) that the actual running of government was under the current President, Emmerson Mnangagwa. And he is now claiming that it was President ...

Harare, Zimbabwe, 06 June 2010 A parliamentary committee consisting of MDC and ZANU PF Members of Parliament has proposed that the army presence at Chiadzwa be beefed up to cover even more of the area in order to "curb illegal mining". Although it had been announced months back that the army was moving out of the diamond fields, the Committee lets the cat out of the bay by not calling for the army to return, but calling for them to remain. The manner in which the announcement is being made is also rather confusing. The committee is not, in effect, recommending. The language used by the Chairman of the Protfolio, ZANU PF's Chindori-Chininga, suggests that decisions have been made. One of these decisions is to force whatever investors are given the green light to mine the 75 000 hectares of diamond claims to use security recommended by the government. The recommendation is already being actioned. The army "will"train a special unit to secure diamond fields and thi...

These are the Chimanimani Mountains in Eastern Zimbabwe, where some more diamonds have been found and a new rush has started. Lebanese buyers are said to be the most active and persistent as they deal with the new illegal diamond miners, called panners because of the rudimentary equipment they traditionally use to extract the precious stones and minerals. Now that the government of Zimbabwe has publicly said it will intervene, it will not be long before we see another bloodbath like the one witnessed at Chiadzwa in Marange, at the original diamond fields of Zimbabwe Harare, Zimbabwe, 01 February 2010 As more and more of the Zimbabwe's Manicaland Province area is discovered to contain even more diamonds than previously thought, Lebanese citizens have emerged as the major driving force behind the new surge in informal mining of the precious stones in the area. The area that had been previously identified as rich in diamond deposits in Eastern Zimbabwe's Manicaland Province (Mara...

What investors? Mugabe arrives for Tendai Biti's Budget speech at parliament in Harare. The Zimbabwe government has installed two mining companies illegally at claims owned by someone else, despite their assurances to the contrary. Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 December 2009 It turns out the Inclusive Government of Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai lied through its teeth about the mining that is going on at Chiadzwa Diamond Fields. Only last month, they told us that the companies that have been given concessions to mine the area were "not mining the areas that are under dispute" - referring to the fight against Government by African Consolidated Resources, which is the original holder of the licence to the Marange claim. ACR had their licence withdrawn (probably because they are British) and had 129 400 carats of diamonds they had already mined seized, never to be seen again. But now it has been revealed that the two mining companies in partnership with Zimbabwe Government-owned...

Rough diamonds from Marange: the Zimbabwe government is riding roughshod over a court decision for their company, ZMDC, to vacate the diamond claims owned by Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR). The company now says it will prosecute the new partners that the government have brought in to develop the fields together with ZMDC. It appears diamonds will be the curse of Zimbabwe, with the Marange Diamond Fields openly being carved up now. There are specific areas that are known by the locals as belonging to specific politicians. These areas have been fenced off. Under such circumstances, there is no hope that the law will actually prevail. Mugabe knows the language of intimidation and force very well. Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 November 2009 The Zimbabwe government-owned Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation (ZMDC) is refusing to comply with a High Court Order for it to vacate the Marange Diamond Fields and let the owner of the claim, Africa Consolidated Resources, move back in to start ope...

Small-scale Diamond miners are seen here at the Marange Diamond Fields in Zimbabwe at the height of diamond fever. Zimbabwe's diamonds face an international ban from the Kimberley Certification Process in Swakopmund, Namibia. The Minister of Mines made a presentation yesterday in the coastal town and did not address the main concern: the presence of the army at the diamond fields. There is no doubt that government is panicking. Harare, Zimbabwe, 04 November 2009 Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe's Minister of Mines and a Vice-presidential aspirant, is in Namibia where he is fighting against the tide, in a battle to block a proposed ban on the trade in Zimbabwe's diamonds. Mpofu, with a straight face, says that the government of Zimbabwe has done all that it can to comply with the recommendations of the Kimberley Certification Process Team that visited Zimbabwe earlier in the year. Talk about eating humble pie! The team recommended that soldiers be removed from the Marange Diamond Field...

A Mugabe Minister has been revealed in court to have sent police to confiscate more than 124 000 carats of diamonds from the offices of Africa Consolidated Resources. The police have never issued a receipt for the diamonds, and those diamonds have never been accounted for, either in government or anywhere else. So no one is sure whether it was the Minister who took the diamonds or whether they were confiscated officially by government. Harare, Zimbabwe, 11 October 2009 ZANU PF Mines Minister under the previous ZANU PF-only government stole about 125 000 carats of diamonds from the offices of the company that previously held the licence for the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields. Police sent in to raid the offices of the company took away the diamonds, Africa Consolidated Resources, according to information revealed in court. They did not give receipt for the diamonds and instead said that they had been send by Mines Minister Amos Midzi. The police did not deny the allegations in court, leading th...

Morgan Tsvangirai speaks under the watchful eye of his boss, Robert "The Solution" Mugabe at the opening of the "Investment Conference" in Harare yesterday. A South African investor interviewed by ZTV yesterday said the conference was a joke because, if he invests in a factory in Zimbabwe, "I will need to drill a borehole because there is no water in the country. And then I have to buy a generator to give me power. Your government needs to address these issues first before asking investors to come in." The Inclusive government of the two men above is, however, too busy "eating" all revenue, paying for a bloated government etc to actually see that it has its priorities wrong. On top of all this, you now have the army thumbing its nose at investor confidence as I explain in this article. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces has now publicly come out to demonstrate that it listens to no one in the world and is essentially running the show in Zimbabwe. Earli...