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Mugabe: Diamond Companies ‘Robbed’ Zimbabwe of its Wealth
Mar 7, 2016 2:51 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said illicit trade in
the nation’s diamonds has cost its economy more than $13 billion as companies
have “robbed” the country of its wealth, Bloomberg reported.
This forced the state to
create a new company, Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Co., which will take over
mining in the African nation, the news agency reported, citing an interview
Mugabe gave on state television March 3. Miners active in the country were last
month forced
to cease operations after the government did not renew their licenses.
The state has earned about
$2 billion from diamonds as about $15 billion was generated by the industry,
the report cited the President as saying.
“Lots of smuggling and
swindling has taken place and the companies that have been mining, I want to
say robbed us of our wealth,” Mugabe said, according to the report March 4.
“That is why we decided that this area should be a monopoly area and only the
state should be able to do the mining in that area.
“You cannot trust a
private company in that area,” Mugabe continued. “We should have learnt from
the experiences of countries like Botswana, Angola, Namibia. We might go
partner with a leading diamond company, one already well-established.”
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Tags:
Marange, mining, Rapaport News, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe
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