via ‘Charge Mugabe over looted $15bn diamonds’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 9, 2016
Opposition parties and student unions say it is incredulous that President Robert Mugabe was unaware that the nation was losing billions of dollars worth of diamonds through looting of diamonds.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA/GARIKAI TUNHIRA
They said if $15 billion worth of diamonds were pillaged under Mugabe’s watch, then he should be impeached for failing to do his job.
MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Mugabe should not have headlined his 92nd birthday with a “message of shame” that as President, he did not know what was happening in his own country until it was too late.
“The national tragedy is when $15 billion worth of Marange diamonds disappears and country’s CEO [President] says he doesn’t know what happened. When a country’s President fails to account for $15 billion belonging to the State, he deserves to be impeached,” he said.
People’s Democratic Party spokesperson, Jacob Mafume said Mugabe was being insincere in his pronouncements because even after discovering the alleged looting, he failed to act.
“He is scapegoating and is never sincere at all. How much has he cost this country himself in air travel and birthdays? They are trying to find an excuse to continue their crusade against party members, who have challenged his authority, but they know where the money is,” he said.
MDC spokesperson, Kurauone Chihwayi said it was shocking that Mugabe had failed to resign or, at the least, sack law enforcement bosses for presiding over non-effective security measures
“We have known that Mugabe only acts when his hold onto power is threatened, but to let the economy lose $15 billion worth of revenue should have jolted even the naive into resignation or action. At the very least, we expected Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to be fired,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Nationals Students’ Union (Zinasu) also fired a salvo at the 92-year-old leader, saying today’s bad decisions were “an automatic liability to our future as students and young people of Zimbabwe”.
They queried why Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa would commit “a large chunk of our budget to the security sector when they are failing to guard against these thefts”.
Social media has been awash with comments from ordinary Zimbabweans, questioning Mugabe’s “business-as-usual” approach to the alleged looting of $15 billion worth of diamonds.
COMMENTS
Is anyone surprised?? This is Africa and all ruling party leaders have their sticky little fingers in the proverbial dollar pies. whoever was naive enough to even think that Zimbabwe would see any cash from the diamonds is in a dream world, and even any future presidents are find out how sticky their little thieving fingers get. Corruption is the main war… Mujuru’s estate was $9 Billion !! How does the General and his wife Joyce explain that away? Power and money, money and power is the only objective of the African politicians.
I CONCUR. ABACHA OF NIGERIA STOLE AND STASHED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OVERSEAS!!!!!
The money did not help him he was still murdered and burnt. Just one more dead CT.
This is enough evidence to pass a vote of no confidence on Mugabe’s government for gross incompetence. How can a government lose so much money without any heads rolling in both Government and the Mining sector. Mugabe is not even ashamed to tell the nation about the loss of such a huge amount of money.
However, In reality what this boils down to is that Mugabe and his ‘elite club’ are complicit in this corruption and should be held to account for this. I suggest that parliament sets out a Commission to investigate this scandal including the right to investigate their foreign banking accounts in Asia and the far East.
If Mugabe and his coterie claim that they were not involved in the scandal, they should allow such an investigation to be undertaken.
It is shameful beyond any measure that the Government holds a begging for other countries to assist with money to feed its own people without accounting for the disappearance of more than US15 billion. Where is their conscience?
The longer he hangs on the more of a clown and murder he will be regarded as in the history books. Negating any image from the 70’s/80’s/90’s. Priceless that he has lost his legitimacy to a legacy. No billions can buy that back.