- The daggers are drawn. Zimbabwe is once again the talking point. The topic: its diamonds, especially those from Marange. The country has once again failed to get clearance from the certification body, The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, to sell its diamonds on the open market.
Zimbabwe’s diamonds, like everything else about the country, have been so controversial that they have been labelled “blood diamonds” even though they do not fall under the definition of blood diamonds of the KP certification system itself.
The controversy has also been surrounded by distortions including false assumptions that the diamonds at Marange were discovered by African Conso…
- Calls for elections by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the Movement for Democratic Change are just a bluff. Neither party wants the elections now or next year. They are not ready and the climate is not right.
The parties to the Global Political Agreement admitted in the document that brought about the inclusive government that elections were not only divisive but confrontational. In short, elections mean violence.
The parties agreed that it was essential to allow the agreement to “take root” before any elections and to give the people of Zimbabwe “breathing space and a healing period”.
Though the inclusive government has been in office…
- The purchase by a German company of a 45 percent stake in the Premier Finance Group was hailed as a major foreign investment into Zimbabwe but it was full of inconsistencies and exposed the West’s double standards vis-à-vis doing business with people on the European Union sanctions list.
German company African Development Corporation (ADC) bought 45 percent of Premier Finance Group (PFG) in December while KMQ Enterprises of Mauritius bought another 9 percent, thus shifting ownership of the bank from locals, barely weeks before the indigenisation law came into effect.
The deal was worth US$6 million but no one raised an eyebrow, yet the German company had actually bought shares…
- Ever wondered how much Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe earns? And how this compares with United States President Barack Obama, or South African President Jacob Zuma?
The Insider now provides this information at the click of a button. It has entered into a partnership with the Netherlands based Webindicator Foundation to produce Mywage/Zimbabwe.
You can participate in the salary survey offered or check your salary and compare it with what others in your profession, or any other profession for that matter, are earning.
You can check what presidents and prime ministers earn. Or find out how much sports stars like Tiger Woods, film stars like Angelina Jollie, and your favourite…
Will Zimbabwe be sacked from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme this week? That is the question everyone is asking as the organization set up to prevent the trade in "blood diamonds" begins its four-day meeting in Namibia on Monday. - The Kimberley Process has been under a lot of flak for being toothless but Zimbabwe, which is now famous for making headlines for all the wrong reasons, took centre-stage when the country deployed soldiers to the alluvial diamond rich Chiadzwa area in Marange south east of the eastern border town of Mutare where illegal miners and international diamond dealers were running a roaring business.
The soldiers are reported to have killed hundre…
Zimbabwe's inclusive government will not collapse despite the MDC's partial withdrawal, political analysts said. The MDC said it would boycott government functions involving the ZANU-PF until the Global Political Agreement had been resolved. - Political commentators, however, said the inclusive government would not collapse because no one was ready for elections. Even if a new constitution was drafted and agreed upon, the elections might be held as late as 2013 or even beyond. Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce President Obert Sibanda said the inclusive government was not likely to collapse because none of the key players really wanted to quit.
"It's like a marriage…
- The Dutch government must be commended for being the highest authority so far to acknowledge that the Netherlands registered company, African Management Services Company's intervention in River Ranch diamond mine was "unwise".
Though the Dutch government says it cannot prosecute the company because it did nothing wrong since it is not listed under the European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe, the government could help unravel a lot of grey areas that surround the contract between AMSCO and River Ranch.
AMSCO is owned by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank but is registered in the Netherlands with its operations headquarters in Johannesburg, South Af…
- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last Friday decided to boycott "cabinet and ministerial meetings" because the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front has been dragging its feet in implementing the Global Political Agreement. It was frustrating his efforts to transform the country. This was a good decision.
Tsvangirai has been humiliated, prompting people to ask why he was enduring all this when he won last year's Parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential elections.
But he couldn't have chosen a worse time to pull out. The timing was wrong. Tsvangirai fell right into the ZANU-PF trap, that he is not the one calling the shots. He is…
- The Dutch government has given a lame excuse for allowing a Netherlands registered company to enter into business with a Zimbabwean company which is partly owned by one of President Robert Mugabe's top lieutenants.
This follows revelations that the Dutch government had turned a blind eye to what appeared to be sanctions busting by African Management Services Company which assisted River Ranch Diamond Mine near Beitbridge from 2004 to 2007 by seconding five managers to revive the mine.
River Ranch was at the time owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Adel Aujan who had taken on former army commander Solomon Mujuru and former legislator Tirivanhu Mudariki as his partners.
What ha…
- Zimbabweans were shocked when their Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai failed to clinch the coveted Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. It was won instead by United States President Barack Obama, something that stunned everyone including his own people as he was a rank outsider.
Tsvangirai's loss was a grim reminder that it is not so much what you do for your country that is important but rather how what you do fits in with Western interests. Tsvangirai lost because, though he brought peace to Zimbabwe, he has failed to kick out Robert Mugabe, one of the West's worst enemies. That was, and remains, unacceptable.
Tsvangirai is very popular at home. No one can steal that away from hi…
A Dutch company, a state-owned bank and development agencies from at least five European countries have been flouting European Union sanctions if it is illegal for European companies and organisations to do business with President Robert Mugabe's lieutenants who are on the EU sanctions list. - The issue of EU sanctions was brought to the forefront following revelations that Swiss food giant, Nestle, was buying milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate, a farm owned by Mugabe and his wife Grace. Nestle said it would stop buying milk from Mugabe on Sunday.
A Swedish company, DeLaval, was also put under the spotlight for selling dairy equipment to Mugabe. A company spokesman regretted that the tr…
- Zimbabwe is not likely to be suspended from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme which prohibits the sale of "blood diamonds" despite the heated debate that has been going on for almost a year. But this will not be because of President Robert Mugabe's obstinacy. More powerful forces are simply at play.
Calls for the suspension were first made by human rights organisations last year
after the government deployed soldiers to the Chiadzwa area in Marange,
near the eastern border town of Mutare, to drive out nearly 40 000 diggers
of alluvial diamonds.
The soldiers are reported to have killed between 80 and 200 diggers during
the operation dubbed “Operation…
- The report on a special investigation of the operations of the Harare office of the United Nations Development Programme carried out last year is alleged to have disappeared.
UNDP Director of Communications Stephane Dujarric, however, brushed off the claim but insisted that the report could not be released to the public.
The UNDP headquarters in New York ordered the special investigation into the operations of the Harare office from July to December last year following allegations that UNDP registered vehicles had been used to smuggle diamonds from River Ranch Mine near Beitbridge.
The investigation is believed to have been much wider focussing on the operations of the UNDP becau…
There was an outcry when President Robert Mugabe grabbed farms from white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe in 2000. Within a year, the United States government had introduced a law "to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law". - The law was known as the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA). It barred the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank from giving financial assistance to Zimbabwe. It also imposed travel and economic sanctions on Zimbabwean President Mugabe and his lieutenants.
Section 6 of the a…
British author Andrew Morton is better known for his best selling books on Princess Diana and Monica Lewinsky, the girl who almost got United States President Bill Clinton kicked out of office. - There is hardly any mention of his book: Moi - the making of an African statesman, a book that is more relevant to Africa and to Zimbabwe in particular because there are a lot of similarities between Kenya under Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.
Morton says the four-wheel drives of the United Nations and aid agencies on Kenya’s roads, and Zimbabwe, are a clear indication of the government’s inability to serve the needs of its people.
He asks what relevance does the …
- Three people seconded to River Ranch diamond mine by a South African-based company had valid United Nations Development Programme permits five to 17 months after their contracts had been terminated.
The three were the finance officer Pradipta Susari, the chief executive officer George Kantsouris and the security chief Lloyd Das.
They were seconded to River Ranch by African Management Services Company, AMSCO, a company jointly owned by the UNDP and the International Finance Corporation, the commercial arm of the World Bank.
AMSCO and River Ranch entered in an agreement in which AMSCO seconded five managers to the mining company owned by Saudi Arabian billionaire Adel Aujan in Novem…
- Two vehicles with civilian number plates belonging to River Ranch diamond mine were indeed registered in the name of the United Nations Development Programme.
This was confirmed by the then secretary for Transport and Communications, George Mlilo, in a letter to River Ranch’s lawyers, Costa and Madzonga.
The letter, dated 15 November 2007, says that the two vehicles, AAQ9041 and AAQ9042 were registered in the name of the UNDP due to incompetence by Central Vehicle Registry staff.
It blames the error on a student who was on attachment and her senior who verified the data she had entered.
The vehicles in question have been at the centre of diamond smuggling allegations fro…
- The United Nations Development Programme has finally admitted that vehicles registered in its name were used to smuggle diamonds from River Ranch Mine near Beitbridge into South Africa but claims that the vehicles were fraudulently registered.
It does not say who fraudulently registered the vehicles -UNDP staff in Harare, River Ranch Mine, or UNDP accredited staff seconded to the mining company through African Management Services Company (AMSCO), a company that the UNDP jointly owns with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank.
The revelation could have serious repercussions on the credibility of the Kimberley Process Certification System (KPCS) -…
- The days of Zimbabwe's problems are over and it is only pessimists and those who do not see the hand of God in the political and economic transformation of this beleaguered country that are holding back.
"This economy is now being directed by God and nothing can derail it. It is changing but not as man wishes but as God wishes," Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi, leader of the Zion Christian Church, told church members at a conference in Bulawayo recently.
He said church members should start inviting friends and relatives to come and look for jobs because industry will soon be in full swing.
Industry is currently operating at less than 20 percent. Only six percent of the work…
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is for real. Contrary to widespread sentiment, mainly propagated by a skeptical media that wanted nothing else but Mugabe to go, the marriage is going to last because "Mugabe needs Tsvangirai more than he needs oxygen," one political analyst joked. - Mugabe has been playing hard ball but sources say he is giving more concessions to Tsvangirai than the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader bargained for. Tsvangirai is likely to have more power "than is written in the ink that signed the global political agreement of September 15 because Mugabe wants him to clean up his…
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Zimbabwe's second Prime Minister on February 11 but the historic event was greeted with a lot of cynicism by a world that wanted only one thing - Mugabe to go. Some of the headlines that day said it all. Tsvangirai had made a terrible mistake by giving in to pressure from African leaders. - "Zimbabwe chooses an African delusion" one headline said. The story went on: "This power-sharing deal was touted as an African solution to an African problem. In fact, it is a testament to failed leadership and the appallingly low standards of democratic accountability in Africa."
Another headline was more straight forward: &…
- Zimbabwe’s vice President Joyce Mujuru threatened a senior executive of a British company with unspecified action after the company refused to handle $15 million worth of “blood diamonds” that her daughter wanted to sell.
The executive Bernd Hagemann, the head of Firstar Europe, a commodities trading company based in Warrington in the United Kingdom, said Mujuru phoned him after the company had blacklisted her, her husband Solomon Mujuru who is Zimbabwe’s former army commander, her daughter Nyasha, Nyasha's husband Pedro Del Campo and their South African agent Dancor Spies.
The Mujurus are on both the United States and the European Union sanctions lists.…
I heaved a sigh of relief as George Bush stepped down and Barack Obama was sworn in as the President of the United States. I had nothing against Bush. As an African I was celebrating the inauguration of Obama but that was not the reason for my relief. - Bush’s departure was the fulfillment of a prophecy that had dogged me for six years pitting my journalism principles against my religious beliefs.
I have been a journalist for over 30 yeas and I am a member of the Zion Christian Church, a Zimbabwean-based Christian organization that has spread its wings to neighbouring countries as well as to the United Kingdom and the United States.
A prophet from our church predicted way back i…
United States President Barack Obama will have a lot of homework to do. The people of Africa are expecting him to be more understanding and sympathetic to their cause. They consider him one of their own because his father was born in Africa. - One of the issues he would have to address urgently is the United States Africa Command (Africom), a unified combatant command of the US Department of Defence responsible for military operations in Africa.
Africom was mooted in 2007 but came into full operation in October 2008. Its headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany.
Its mission looks simple. “United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international …
- Castrated! The word evokes shame, disgust, barbarism and brutality. But for the past five months, I have literally been castrated by Zimbabwe’s central bank governor, Gideon Gono. He did not do it physically. He did it mentally by robbing me of my manhood.
I am a father of four. I have a respectable, full-time job. People even call me Mr. I work between eight and 16 hours a day. But I cannot even feed my family. Sometimes I am not even able to buy a loaf of bread. There are trillions of dollars in my bank account but I cannot access the money. It is losing value everyday, sometimes by as much as half, because Gono will not allow me to withdraw my hard-earned salary when I need it…
- Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is considered one of the most evil men in the world today. He has been called all sorts of names— tyrant, dictator and monster. He is said to be ruthless with his own people. Local pastors even at one time described him as a biblical “beast of anarchy” because of the way he terrorised his own people.
A South African Anglican bishop likened him to the 21st century Adolph Hitler, after the German leader who killed thousands of Jews during the Second World War. Parade magazine ranked him one of the worst dictators in the world.
Mugabe who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, first as Prime Minister and then as President, w…
