Zimbabwe loses 400 million dollars in smuggled diamonds

Apr 5, 2007, 8:31 GMT

Harare/Johannesburg - Cash-strapped Zimbabwe lost 400 million US dollars worth of potential revenue from the smuggling of gems from the diamond fields of Marange in eastern Zimbabwe, the central bank chief was quoted as saying Thursday.

Gideon Gono was quoted in the state-controlled Herald newspaper as saying that the massive loss had been incurred in the past nine months when thousands of Zimbabweans flocked to Marange in a frenzied search for wealth.

It is the first time the government has quantified the total estimated loss to the nation incurred by the diamond rush.

'We are our own worst enemies,' Gono was quoted as saying during a lecture Wednesday at Midlands State University in central Zimbabwe.

'There is no other area where implementation inertia is as glaring as that of the area of diamond mining,' he said.

Last year the government allowed villagers in the impoverished and arid Marange area to start mining diamonds despite the area being under a claim by an international mining firm.

As a result thousands of fortune seekers from all over Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries flocked to the area to plunder the diamond fields.

Police and army are reported to have since sealed off the area, but Gono said the place was still luring people, including senior officials from banks.

'Some people now find it more profitable to go and herd cattle in Marange because you can just collect a few pieces of diamond as you herd the cattle. People are making lots of money,' Gono said.

International buyers from various countries are also reported to have flocked to Marange to buy stones from miners, in breach of local mining laws that require all precious minerals to be sold to the state-run Minerals Marketing Corporation.

A Lebanese woman, Carole Georges el-Martni, arrested on March 1 at Harare international airport with diamonds concealed in her luggage, has pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle the precious stones, the Herald reported.

The woman has, however, been acquitted of trying to bribe her way to freedom.