Don’t Put Diamonds to Waste, Advises Zimbabwe VP

In a bid to shore up foreign currency reserves, Zimbabwe’s Vice President called on local authorities in the country to ensure diamonds and other natural resources are sold to the government. The measure will facilitate the purchase of staples like fuel and machinery.

Joice Mujuru made the request at a workshop for hundreds of rural councilors. She said that it was “the duty of councils as lower arms of government to ensure diamonds found in [the regions of] Chiadzwa and Marange are sold directly to the State,” according to local media reports.

“Let us not put the diamonds to waste,” she reportedly told councilors.

Mujuru said selling minerals privately to foreigners disadvantages Zimbabwe because foreign currency is not remitted to the government.

“The diamonds should be sold to the Government. Those who are exporting the diamonds are enriching other nations. The diamonds should benefit the Zimbabwean economy,” she said. According to a report in The Herald published in Harare, the Vice President said Zimbabwe “would have enough money to buy fuel, tractors and medicines, build roads, clinics, and schools if minerals were sold to the government.”

The country’s land reform program is unpopular with the West, said Mujuru because their “kith and kin could not maintain control on the minerals.” 

Last month President Robert Mugabe said on state television that, “Only government will mine diamonds,” adding that diamonds will fall into a “special category.” The president then accused the mining companies who currently operate in the country of selling their diamonds illegally.