Opinion / Columnist
Marange 'diamonds are finished' lied Chinamasa dismissively reminiscent of Animal Farm
06 Mar 2015 at 05:39hrs | Views
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa lied to parliament about there being no more diamonds in Marange.
"Alluvial diamonds are finished and most of the companies we gave the right to mine there have no capacity to engage in further exploration. Just one company has the capacity to do so and it has discovered that we still have the kimberlite which requires more capital," he said.
When the Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds were first discovered in 2005 they were valued at a staggering $ 800 billion. But ever since the scramble for these germs started by illegal panners and mining consortiums alike the problem has never been one of the diamonds running out but the lack of transparency on the quantity and quality of the diamonds being found and sold by who so the State can claim its rightful share of the treasure in the form of tax.
Former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, complained about how the collected tax from Marange diamond operation had dropped although the mining activities had actually increased considerably.
The late Zanu PF MP Chindori Chininga produced a parliamentary report in 2013 in which he said the mining in Marange was now going on 24/7 but decried how no one in authority knew what was going on in Marange. No one! It is believed that he was killed by those who have been benefiting from the lack of transparency and were angry that he had written the damning report.
Ever with 24/7 mining taking place it is nonsense that the last germ out of the $800 billion is gone, which is what Minister Chinamasa would have us believe. There is evidence of new players, the Russians, joining in the looting and plunder.
When Minister Chinamasa was first appointed after the rigged July 2013 elections he talked of the need reduce the number of players in Marange, presumably to improve transparency and collection of taxes. It seems that died a quite death because even less information seemed to come out of Marange and tax revenue fall even more.
When Mugabe signed the $4.8 billion Darwendale Platinum mining deal with the Russians in September last year, there was also a second deal but not made public at the time for the Russians to mine for diamonds. The diamond venture was between Russian defence conglomerate Rostec State Corporation, Vi Holding and Vnesheconombank and the local partner Zimbabwe military, through its Pen East Mining Company. The deal is the partners will share the proceeds and not pay any tax in Zimbabwe. Not a penny.
The Zimbabwe Military has muscled in on the Darwedale Platinum project too on the understanding that the two partners will not pay local tax for the first five years at least. In the initial deal the Russians' local partner was the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and all local taxes were to be paid, as normal. Mugabe has already approved the arrangement with the Zimbabwe military as the new local partner according to a report in South Africa The Mail and Guardian.
Of course there are still diamonds in Marange it is just that all the mining concessions are now the same as that between Rostec State Corporation and Pen East Mining Company in which the foreign mining company will share the proceeds with the local partner and not pay any local taxes. This is exactly what Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo meant in his twit, "Diamond revenues from alluvial diamond mining have dramatically shrunk. We now need to come terms with this reality."
So out of this Marange and Chiadzwa diamond bounty worth $ 800 billion whatever government has received in the form of tax is all the nation will ever get because from now on only Mugabe and the select few are going to benefit from the rest of the bounty.
Minister Chinamasa is lying that there are no diamonds left because if he admitted that there were he would have to explain why he has failed to collect a dollar in tax from this bounty. He is sick and tired of the feeble excuses why he has. Besides by telling the nation there are no diamonds left he is helping the naïve and gullible Zimbabwe public "to come to terms with the reality" that they have once again been cheated big time.
I suppose Minister Chinamasa would be telling the nation Rostec State Corporation and Pen East Company have not found any Platinum when the operations start in Darwendale even though the nation can see for themselves train wagons of the stuff leaving the mine.
How is it possible that a nation of 12 million has been reduced to the brainwashed, controlled and utter helpless animals George Orwell wrote about in Animal Farm!
"Comrades!" cried the propagandist pig Squealer. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. …..
"Milk and apples (this has been proven by Science, Comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of a pig. We pigs are brain workers ……..
"Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!"
Well our modern day Squealer, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa spare us the spill about the threat of the whites returning and the threat the British colonialists posed to the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabwe – he left that to Mugabe. He confined to himself to "Comrades, Marange and Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds are finished!"
No doubt the people of Marange and Chiadzwa are not being allowed back to their old homes "for their own good!" And anyone who dares go there to investigate why companies are still there operating 24/7 when there are no diamonds would be shot on sight "for their own good too!"
It is unforgivable that we, the people of Zimbabwe, have allowed Mugabe and his cronies to bankrupt country, to loot its rich resources and to ruin its once vibrant economy and throwing millions of our people into a life of abject poverty and despair. We must all hang our heads in shame that we have allowed ourselves be so thoroughly brainwashed by the regime we are now no better than the sheep in George Orwell's Animal Farm.
"Alluvial diamonds are finished and most of the companies we gave the right to mine there have no capacity to engage in further exploration. Just one company has the capacity to do so and it has discovered that we still have the kimberlite which requires more capital," he said.
When the Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds were first discovered in 2005 they were valued at a staggering $ 800 billion. But ever since the scramble for these germs started by illegal panners and mining consortiums alike the problem has never been one of the diamonds running out but the lack of transparency on the quantity and quality of the diamonds being found and sold by who so the State can claim its rightful share of the treasure in the form of tax.
Former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, complained about how the collected tax from Marange diamond operation had dropped although the mining activities had actually increased considerably.
The late Zanu PF MP Chindori Chininga produced a parliamentary report in 2013 in which he said the mining in Marange was now going on 24/7 but decried how no one in authority knew what was going on in Marange. No one! It is believed that he was killed by those who have been benefiting from the lack of transparency and were angry that he had written the damning report.
Ever with 24/7 mining taking place it is nonsense that the last germ out of the $800 billion is gone, which is what Minister Chinamasa would have us believe. There is evidence of new players, the Russians, joining in the looting and plunder.
When Minister Chinamasa was first appointed after the rigged July 2013 elections he talked of the need reduce the number of players in Marange, presumably to improve transparency and collection of taxes. It seems that died a quite death because even less information seemed to come out of Marange and tax revenue fall even more.
When Mugabe signed the $4.8 billion Darwendale Platinum mining deal with the Russians in September last year, there was also a second deal but not made public at the time for the Russians to mine for diamonds. The diamond venture was between Russian defence conglomerate Rostec State Corporation, Vi Holding and Vnesheconombank and the local partner Zimbabwe military, through its Pen East Mining Company. The deal is the partners will share the proceeds and not pay any tax in Zimbabwe. Not a penny.
The Zimbabwe Military has muscled in on the Darwedale Platinum project too on the understanding that the two partners will not pay local tax for the first five years at least. In the initial deal the Russians' local partner was the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and all local taxes were to be paid, as normal. Mugabe has already approved the arrangement with the Zimbabwe military as the new local partner according to a report in South Africa The Mail and Guardian.
Of course there are still diamonds in Marange it is just that all the mining concessions are now the same as that between Rostec State Corporation and Pen East Mining Company in which the foreign mining company will share the proceeds with the local partner and not pay any local taxes. This is exactly what Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo meant in his twit, "Diamond revenues from alluvial diamond mining have dramatically shrunk. We now need to come terms with this reality."
Minister Chinamasa is lying that there are no diamonds left because if he admitted that there were he would have to explain why he has failed to collect a dollar in tax from this bounty. He is sick and tired of the feeble excuses why he has. Besides by telling the nation there are no diamonds left he is helping the naïve and gullible Zimbabwe public "to come to terms with the reality" that they have once again been cheated big time.
I suppose Minister Chinamasa would be telling the nation Rostec State Corporation and Pen East Company have not found any Platinum when the operations start in Darwendale even though the nation can see for themselves train wagons of the stuff leaving the mine.
How is it possible that a nation of 12 million has been reduced to the brainwashed, controlled and utter helpless animals George Orwell wrote about in Animal Farm!
"Comrades!" cried the propagandist pig Squealer. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. …..
"Milk and apples (this has been proven by Science, Comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of a pig. We pigs are brain workers ……..
"Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!"
Well our modern day Squealer, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa spare us the spill about the threat of the whites returning and the threat the British colonialists posed to the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabwe – he left that to Mugabe. He confined to himself to "Comrades, Marange and Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds are finished!"
No doubt the people of Marange and Chiadzwa are not being allowed back to their old homes "for their own good!" And anyone who dares go there to investigate why companies are still there operating 24/7 when there are no diamonds would be shot on sight "for their own good too!"
It is unforgivable that we, the people of Zimbabwe, have allowed Mugabe and his cronies to bankrupt country, to loot its rich resources and to ruin its once vibrant economy and throwing millions of our people into a life of abject poverty and despair. We must all hang our heads in shame that we have allowed ourselves be so thoroughly brainwashed by the regime we are now no better than the sheep in George Orwell's Animal Farm.
Source - Wilbert Mukori
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
