ZIMBABWE’S FINANCE minister has publicly accused a small clique of top politicians of looting gemstones from the country’s controversial Marange diamond fields to fund their extravagant lifestyles, a local newspaper has reported.
Addressing delegates at a diamond workshop in Harare late last week, Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the individuals were not afraid to flaunt their new-found wealth even though they were surrounded by poverty.
“There is no doubt that a small coterie of individuals is benefiting from Zimbabwe diamonds. Some of us [officials] who are benefiting are not afraid to flaunt our monies. We are buying all kinds of assets,” the Zimbabwe Standard reported Mr Biti as saying.
“I am a government minister and earning US$800 [a month]. How do I buy some of the assets that we are buying? People are now buying private jets because of our diamonds,” he added.
Mr Biti’s statement follows on from a similar accusation he levelled at President Robert Mugabe in Cape Town, South Africa, a few days earlier.
At the Open Society Forum Conference on corruption and politics, he accused Mr Mugabe of allowing his supporters in Zanu-PF to steal diamonds in return for their continued political support.
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo has dismissed the allegations, saying Mr Biti must bring forward evidence rather than speculation.
“If he has evidence, I challenge him to name the Zanu PF officials benefiting from Marange diamonds,” he said.
Rights groups have repeatedly accused senior Zanu-PF officials of benefiting illegally from the Marange fields, which are thought to have one of the richest deposits of diamonds in the world.
In February, a report by Global Witness claimed the resource discovered in 2006 was being mined by companies whose senior directors are drawn from security personnel loyal to Mr Mugabe.
Critics of Zanu-PF have long held the belief that diamond-sale profits are siphoned off to enrich party supporters and provide a war chest for coming elections, which are due within the next 12 months.
Zanu-PF and the MDC are currently in a stalled powersharing deal in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the BBC radio presenter arrested in Bulawayo last Thursday while compering at a music festival and charged with working without a permit, will not be prosecuted and is free to fly home, his lawyer told Reuters.
Petroc Trelawny is being treated in a Zimbabwe hospital for a fractured arm, sustained after a fall while in police custody, his lawyer said.
Friends of Mr Trelawny told local reporters he was in high spirits and they hoped he would be able to return home in a few days.
