THIS week the Zimbabwe Independent — which last month began publishing fresh stories based on our ground-breaking investigation into the Marange alluvial diamonds discovery and subsequent looting — exposes collusion between the state and illegal dealers in the grand theft of the precious mineral before a nasty fallout frayed relations.
Elias Mambo/ Obey Manayiti
This special series is supported by the Investigative Journalism Fund.
In a scandalous liaison that would lay the groundwork for illicit dealings which facilitated looting and pillaging on a massive scale, the government initially collaborated with illegal panners by buying diamonds from them.
Farai Maguwu, a civil society activist and director of the Marange-based Centre for Research and Development, told the Independent in an interview this week that the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) in partnership with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) would carry out mop-up operations around 2007.
“The MMCZ and the RBZ would come to Marange to carry out mop-up operations where they were buying all the diamonds from the artisanal miners using the Zimbabwe dollar (Zim$).
“Miners would celebrate, saying bag rauya (cash has arrived) as they would rush to deliver their diamonds to the government buyers. However, it is during the same period that we witnessed an increase in foreign buyers who were using the US$.”
Maguwu also said the influx of foreign buyers became a cause for concern for the government which was now losing out as artisanal miners shunned the MMCZ and RBZ officials.
Read more https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2017/01/23/govt-collaborated-illegal-panners-marange/
Source : The Zimbabwe Independent
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