Controversial cabinet minister, Jonathan Moyo, has challenged the army to help recover the billions of dollars in diamonds that were looted at the Marange gem fields from 2008 to 2015.
In an interview to mark his 92 birthday in March, Mugabe claimed some $15 billion worth of diamonds were stolen from Marange. Responding to remarks in parliament recently by Douglas Nyikayaramba that corruption was bleeding the economy, Moyo, the Higher and Tertiary Education minister, challenged the army general to recover the missing gems. Writing on Twitter, Moyo said: “Nyikayaramba said corruption is a major security threat. Unravel and recover missing $15 billion”.
Nyikayaramba had delivered a thinly veiled broadside at Moyo, who is facing multiple fraud allegations for illegally drawing money from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) to fund Zanu PF and his own constituency activities.
The major general appeared before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Defence and Security and described high profile corruption as a cancer that was undermining national progress
He bemoaned lack of action against culprits on the part of relevant authorities. Nyikayaramba also took aim at Moyo’s factional ally, Saviour Kasukuwere, rapping top officials who were building 50roomed mansions as has been reported about the Local Government minister. Moyo’s twitter hints at the role the military played in the looting of the Marange diamonds.
A 2012 Global Witness report indicated that the security sector helped itself to some of the diamonds to prop up Mugabe’s party and government. The arm, police and central intelligence are said to have been allocated undeclared shares in several companies, using the loot to buy vehicles and fund covert operations against Zanu PF critics, while the bosses diverted some of the money to their own use.