nternational wesbite Wikileaks has begun releasing more than 250 000 documents detailing correspondence between the US State Department and Washington’s various embassies around the world.
The 251 287 documents previously unavailable to the public and all of which are classified either confidential or secret focus on US policy and diplomatic relations between the world’s sole superpower and countries in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.
And below is a document filed by headquarters by the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell in 2007. The document gives insights into US thinking and objectives on Zimbabwe as well as Washington’s opinion about the leading political players in the southern African country:
Date 2007-07-13 10:04:00
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000638
SUBJECT: The End is Nigh
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4b/d
Having said my piece repeatedly over the last three years, I won't offer a lengthy prescription for our Zimbabwe policy. My views can be stated very simply as stay the course and prepare for change. Our policy is working and it's helping to drive change here. What is required is simply the grit, determination and focus to see this through. Then, when the changes finally come we must be ready to move quickly to help consolidate the new dispensation.
THE SITUATION
Robert Mugabe has survived for so long because he is more clever and more ruthless than any other politician in Zimbabwe. To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician and has long thrived on his ability to abruptly change the rules of the game, radicalise the political dynamic and force everyone else to react to his agenda.
However, he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for everything in the present and future; his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics, including supply and demand); and his essentially short-term, tactical style.
While his tactical skills have kept him in power for 27 years, over the last seven this has only been achieved by a series of populist, but destructive and ultimately self-defeating moves. In reaction to losing the 2000 referendum on the constitution, a vengeful Mugabe unleashed his Green Bombers to commit land reform and in the process he destroyed Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, once the bedrock of the economy.
While thousands of white farmers saw their properties seized, hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans lost their livelihoods and were reduced to utter poverty. In 2005, having been forced to steal victory by manipulating the results of an election he lost, Mugabe lashed out again, punishing the urban populace by launching Operation Murambatsvina. The result was wholesale destruction of the informal sector, on which as much as 70-80 percent of urban dwellers had depended, and the uprooting of 700,000 Zimbabweans. The current inflationary cycle really began with Murambatsvina, as rents and prices grew in response to a decrease in supply.
And now, faced with the hyperinflationary consequences of his ruinous fiscal policies and growing reliance on the printing press to keep his government running, Mugabe has launched Operation Slash Prices. This has once again given him a very temporary boost in popularity especially among the police, who have led the looting of retail outlets and now seem well positioned to take a leading role in the black market economy) at the cost of terrible damage to the country and people.
Many small grocery and shop owners, traders, etc., will be wiped out; the shelves are increasingly bare; hunger, fear, and tension are growing; fuel has disappeared. When the shelves are still empty this time next week, the popular appeal of the price roll back will evaporate and the government simply doesn’t have the resources to replace the entire private commercial sector and keep Zimbabweans fed. It may attempt to do so by printing more money, adding even more inflationary pressure on a system already reeling from the GOZ’s quasi-fiscal lunacy combined with the price impact of pervasive shortages.
The increasingly worthless Zim dollar is likely to collapse as a unit of trade in the near future, depriving the Government of Zimbabwe of its last economic tool other than sheer thuggery and theft of others’ assets.
With all this in view, I’m convinced the end is not far off for the Mugabe regime. Of course, my predecessors and many other observers have all said the same thing, and yet Mugabe is still with us. I think this time could prove different, however, because for the first time the president is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts.
In the past, he could always play one of these off against the other, using economic moves to counter political pressure or playing the old colonial/race/imperialist themes to buy himself breathing room regionally and internationally. But he is running out of options and in the swirling gases of the new Zimbabwean constellation that is starting to form, the economic, political and international pressures are concentrating on Mugabe himself.
Our Zanu PF contacts are virtually unanimous in saying reform is desperately needed, but won't happen while the Old Man is there, and therefore he must go (finding the courage to make that happen is another matter, however, but even that may be coming closer).
This is not some sudden awakening on the road to Damascus, but a reflection of the pain even party insiders increasingly feel over the economic meltdown. We also get regular, albeit anecdotal, reports of angry and increasingly open mutterings against Mugabe even in ZANU-PF's traditional rural bastions.
Beginning in March, the other SADC leaders finally recognised (in the wake of the terrible beatings of March 11 and the international outcry that followed another self-inflicted wound for Mugabe) that Zimbabwe is a problem they need to address.
Thabo Mbeki appears committed to a successful mediation and is reportedly increasingly irritated with Mugabe’s efforts to manipulate him or blow him off altogether. If Mugabe judges that he still commands all he surveys by virtue of being the elder statesman on the scene, he may be committing yet another serious blunder.
Finally, one does well to recall that the only serious civil disturbances here in a decade came in 1998 over bread shortages, showing that even the famously passive Shona people have their limits. The terror and oppression of the intervening years have cowed people, but it’s anyone’s guess whether their fear or their anger will win out in the end.
WHAT WILL THE END LOOK LIKE?
This is the big, unanswerable question. One thing at least is certain, Mugabe will not wake up one morning a changed man, resolved to set right all he has wrought. He will not go quietly nor without a fight. He will cling to power at all costs and the costs be damned, he deserves to rule by virtue of the liberation struggle and land reform and the people of Zimbabwe have let him down by failing to appreciate this, thus he needn’t worry about their well-being.
The only scenario in which he might agree to go with a modicum of good grace is one in which he concludes that the only way to end his days a free man is by leaving State House. I judge that he is still a long way from this conclusion and will fight on for now.
The optimal outcome, of course, and the only one that doesn’t bring with it a huge risk of violence and conflict, is a genuinely free and fair election, under international supervision. The Mbeki mediation offers the best, albeit very slim, hope of getting there.
However, as Pretoria grows more and more worried about the chaos to its north and President Mbeki’s patience with Mugabe’s antics wears thin, the prospects for serious South African engagement may be growing. Thus, this effort deserves all the support and backing we can muster.
Less attractive is the idea of a South African-brokered transitional arrangement or government of national unity. Mbeki has always favored stability and in his mind this means a Zanu PF-led GNU, with perhaps a few MDC additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform.
The other scenarios are all less attractive: a popular uprising would inevitably entail a bloodbath, even if it were ultimately successful; Mugabe’s sudden, unexpected death would set off a stampede for power among Zanu PF heavy weights; a palace coup, whether initiated within Zanu PF or from the military -- in which Mugabe is removed, killed, exiled or otherwise disposed of, could well devolve into open conflict between the contending successors.
Similarly, some form of "constitutional coup" i.e., a change at the top engineered within the framework of Zanu PF's "legitimate" structures could well prove to be merely the opening bell in a prolonged power struggle. None of the players is likely to go quietly into the night without giving everything they have, including calling on their supporters in the security services. Moreover, experience elsewhere would suggest that whoever comes out on top initially will struggle, and more than likely fail, to halt the economic collapse. Thus, there is a good prospect of not one but a series of rapid-fire transitions, until some new, stable dispensation is reached.
The final, and probably worst, possibility is that Mugabe concludes he can settle for ruling over a rump Zimbabwe, maintaining control over Harare and the MaShona heartland, the critical forces of the National Reserve Force and CIO and a few key assets gold, diamonds, platinum and Air Zimbabwe to fund the good times. Under this scenario, the rest of the country, in one of the comrade’s favorite phrases, could “go hang”, leaving it to the international community to stave off the worst humanitarian consequences.
WHAT OF THE OPPOSITION?
Zimbabwe’s opposition is far from ideal and I leave convinced that had we had different partners, we could have achieved more already. But you have to play the hand you’re dealt. With that in mind, the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power.
Morgan Tsvangarai is a brave, committed man and, by and large, a democrat. He is also the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. But Tsvangirai is also a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, he is a kind of Lech Walesa character: Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery.
Arthur Mutambara is young and ambitious, attracted to radical, anti-western rhetoric and smart as a whip. But, in many respects he’s a light-weight who has spent too much time reading U.S. campaign messaging manuals and too little thinking about the real issues.
Welshman Ncube has proven to be a deeply divisive and destructive player in the opposition ranks and the sooner he is pushed off the stage, the better. But he is useful to many, including the regime and South Africa, so is probably a cross to be borne for some time yet. The prospects for healing the rift within the MDC seem dim, which is a totally unnecessary self-inflicted wound on their part this time.
With few exceptions -- Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa -- the talent is thin below the top ranks. The great saving grace of the opposition is likely to be found in the Diaspora. Most of Zimbabwe’s best professionals, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, etc., have fled the country. They are the opposition’s natural allies and it is encouraging to see signs, particularly in South Africa and the UK, that these people are talking, sharing ideas, developing plans and thinking together about future recovery.
Unfortunately, among the MDC’s flaws is its inability to work more effectively with the rest of civil society. The blame for this can be shared on both sides (many civil society groups, like the NCA, are single-issue focused and take the overall dynamic in unhelpful directions; others, like WOZA, insist on going it alone as a matter of principle), but ultimately it falls to the MDC as the largest and the only true political party, to show the way.
Once again, however, these are natural allies and they have more reason to work together than fight against each other.
STAYING THE COURSE, PREPARING FOR CHANGE
If I am right and change is in the offing, we need to step up our preparations. The work done over the last year on transition planning has been extremely useful, both for stimulating a fresh look at our own assumptions and plans and for forging a common approach among the traditional donor community. But the process has lagged since the meetings in March in London and should be re-energised.
It is encouraging in this respect that USAID Washington has engaged the Mission here in discussing how we would use additional resources in response to a genuinely reform-minded government. I hope this will continue and the good work done so far will survive the usual bloodletting of the budget process.
The official media has had a field day recently whooping that "Dell leaves Zimbabwe a failed man". That's not quite how it looks from here. I believe that the firm U.S. stance, the willingness to speak out and stand up, have contributed to the accelerating pace of change. Mugabe and his henchman are like bullies everywhere: if they can intimidate you they will. But they’re not used to someone standing up to them and fighting back. It catches them off guard and that's when they make mistakes.
The howls of protest over critical statements from Washington or negative coverage on CNN are the clearest proof of how this hurts them. Ditto the squeals over illegal sanctions. In addition, the regime has become so used to calling the shots and dictating the pace that the merest stumble panics them. Many local observers have noted that Mugabe is panicked and desperate about hyperinflation at the moment, and hence he’s making mistakes. Possibly fatal mistakes.
We need to keep the pressure on in order to keep Mugabe off his game and on his back foot, relying on his own shortcomings to do him in. Equally important is an active U.S. leadership role in the international community. The UK is ham-strung by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness. The EU is divided between the hard north and its soft southern underbelly. The Africans are only now beginning to find their voice. Rock solid partners like Australia don’t pack enough punch to step out front and the UN is a non-player. Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of ordinary Zimbabweans of all kinds have told me that our clear, forthright stance has given them hope and the courage to hang on. By this regime’s standards, acting in the interests of the people may indeed be considered a failure. But I believe that the opposite is true, and that we can be justifiably proud that in Zimbabwe we have helped advance the President’s freedom agenda. The people of this country know it and recognise it and that is the true touchstone of our success here. DELL
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Grace Mugabe linked to Chinese mafia
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe has been linked to the Chinese mafia, in startling revelations that are said to have caused some diplomatic discomfort between Harare and Beijing and were the main reason for last month’s purge on companies mining the controversial Marange diamond fields.
According to Africa Confidential, President Robert Mugabe was told by the Chinese government that his wife Grace – who is reportedly pursuing her own mining interests in the controversial diamond fields – was dealing with dubious traders from Hong Kong where she has property investments.
“Senior Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao, were concerned enough about this relationship to inform President Mugabe personally that these Hong Kong traders had links to Triad criminal syndicates, which have already established a strong base in South Africa,” said the London-based publications, among the leading specialist journals on Africa.
The Triad is a Chinese organised crime organisation involved in extortion, money laundering, human trafficking and prostitution.
Mugabe, who is said to be furious at the diplomatic embarrassment caused by these revelations and security breaches, has ordered an investigation of all the entities operating in Marange.
“The first victims of the presidential order were the directors of Canadile Miners, one of the two officially sanctioned companies exploiting the Marange field,” Africa Confidential said.
Canadile directors and officials from the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) were arrested in Mutare last month in the course of what was billed as a government crackdown on illicit mining and smuggling.
Canadile is a joint venture of the South African firm Core Mining and Minerals and the state-owned ZMDC.
The Zimbabwe government cancelled Canadile’s diamond claims in November and announced it was taking control of the joint mining venture following allegations that the firm’s fraudulently acquired mining concessions in Marange.
Chiadzwa is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields with reports that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government took over the field in October 2006 from ACR committed gross human rights abuses against illegal miners who had descended on the field.
According to Africa Confidential, President Robert Mugabe was told by the Chinese government that his wife Grace – who is reportedly pursuing her own mining interests in the controversial diamond fields – was dealing with dubious traders from Hong Kong where she has property investments.
“Senior Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao, were concerned enough about this relationship to inform President Mugabe personally that these Hong Kong traders had links to Triad criminal syndicates, which have already established a strong base in South Africa,” said the London-based publications, among the leading specialist journals on Africa.
The Triad is a Chinese organised crime organisation involved in extortion, money laundering, human trafficking and prostitution.
Mugabe, who is said to be furious at the diplomatic embarrassment caused by these revelations and security breaches, has ordered an investigation of all the entities operating in Marange.
“The first victims of the presidential order were the directors of Canadile Miners, one of the two officially sanctioned companies exploiting the Marange field,” Africa Confidential said.
Canadile directors and officials from the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) were arrested in Mutare last month in the course of what was billed as a government crackdown on illicit mining and smuggling.
Canadile is a joint venture of the South African firm Core Mining and Minerals and the state-owned ZMDC.
The Zimbabwe government cancelled Canadile’s diamond claims in November and announced it was taking control of the joint mining venture following allegations that the firm’s fraudulently acquired mining concessions in Marange.
Chiadzwa is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields with reports that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government took over the field in October 2006 from ACR committed gross human rights abuses against illegal miners who had descended on the field.
Zim to nationalise alluvial diamonds
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government is nationalising all alluvial diamond deposits while the state will assume controlling stake in all future mining ventures involving other minerals including gold, platinum and non-alluvial diamonds, economic indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said Wednesday.
At present, the government holds 50 percent stakes in each of the companies that are mining alluvial diamonds in the controversial Marange fields to the north of the country.
Addressing journalists in Harare, Kasukuwere said the ruling coalition of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had unanimously agreed on the sweeping changes that although targeting new projects are certain to leave investors in established mines wondering about how safe their investments are in Zimbabwe.
Kasukuwere said: “At its weekly sitting…cabinet took far reaching decisions on the issue of implementation of Indigenisation and Empowerment Act in general and the mining sector in particular.
“The shareholding in the mining sector as it relates to the state shall be as follows, 100 percent for alluvial diamonds.”
According to the regulations, government would establish a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ to function as a vehicle through which the state will acquire controlling stake in all new mining ventures that do not involve alluvial diamonds.
Kasukuwere said once the new rules came into force, communities would now get 10 percent of gross profit from the exploitation of their mineral resources. He said the new rules would become effective once gazzeted but did not say when exactly that would be.
“Cabinet resolved that through a Community Share Ownership Scheme…communities shall be entitled to 10 percent of profit before tax,” he said.
The minister said the funds would be channeled towards supporting new health, education and infrastructural projects in communities.
Government would soon be announcing new guidelines on how the controversial Indigenisation Act would be implemented in other sectors of the economy, he said.
Meanwhile, Kasukuwere dismissed claims by Minister of Industry and Commerce Professor Welshman Ncube that government had suspended implementation of the Indigenisation regulations.
“Let me say that the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment remains the sole mouthpiece on issues of indigenisation and empowerment. We have not frozen indigenisation,” he said.
Under the empowerment programme, foreign-owned firms are required to cede significant stake to local blacks by 2015 and those failing to comply risk losing their operating licenses.
Mugabe, whose then sole ruling ZANU PF party passed the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill in 2007, had initially wanted all foreign-owned firms to cede 51 percent stake to locals.
He backed down after Tsvangirai opposed the requirement to force all foreigners to surrender control of their investments and the coalition government later modified the rules to allow varying percentages of shareholding foreign-owned companies in various sectors of the economy must transfer to local blacks.
The committees appointed to recommend to the government the various shareholding thresholds are yet to report back to Kasukuwere.
Analysts say the empowerment drive is unlikely to succeed as most local business people are unable to raise the required funding to buy shares from foreign-owned companies.
A similar empowerment drive by Mugabe in agriculture destroyed the mainstay sector, leaving once self sufficient Zimbabwe dependent on food aid after the 86-year old leader failed to provide funding, inputs and skills training to black villagers resettled on former white-owned commercial farms to maintain production.
And critics fear that the economic empowerment is a ploy by Mugabe to reward his allies and supporters with thriving businesses in the same way his top backers in his ZANU PF party and the military were rewarded with the best farms grabbed from whites.
Large multinational corporations such as cigarette manufacturer BAT Zimbabwe, which is 80 percent British-owned; UK-controlled financial institutions Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, food group Nestlé Zimbabwe, mining giants Rio Tinto and Zimplats, and AON Insurance are some of the big foreign-owned firms that will be forced to cede control to locals. – ZimOnline.
At present, the government holds 50 percent stakes in each of the companies that are mining alluvial diamonds in the controversial Marange fields to the north of the country.
Addressing journalists in Harare, Kasukuwere said the ruling coalition of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had unanimously agreed on the sweeping changes that although targeting new projects are certain to leave investors in established mines wondering about how safe their investments are in Zimbabwe.
Kasukuwere said: “At its weekly sitting…cabinet took far reaching decisions on the issue of implementation of Indigenisation and Empowerment Act in general and the mining sector in particular.
“The shareholding in the mining sector as it relates to the state shall be as follows, 100 percent for alluvial diamonds.”
According to the regulations, government would establish a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ to function as a vehicle through which the state will acquire controlling stake in all new mining ventures that do not involve alluvial diamonds.
Kasukuwere said once the new rules came into force, communities would now get 10 percent of gross profit from the exploitation of their mineral resources. He said the new rules would become effective once gazzeted but did not say when exactly that would be.
“Cabinet resolved that through a Community Share Ownership Scheme…communities shall be entitled to 10 percent of profit before tax,” he said.
The minister said the funds would be channeled towards supporting new health, education and infrastructural projects in communities.
Government would soon be announcing new guidelines on how the controversial Indigenisation Act would be implemented in other sectors of the economy, he said.
Meanwhile, Kasukuwere dismissed claims by Minister of Industry and Commerce Professor Welshman Ncube that government had suspended implementation of the Indigenisation regulations.
“Let me say that the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment remains the sole mouthpiece on issues of indigenisation and empowerment. We have not frozen indigenisation,” he said.
Under the empowerment programme, foreign-owned firms are required to cede significant stake to local blacks by 2015 and those failing to comply risk losing their operating licenses.
Mugabe, whose then sole ruling ZANU PF party passed the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill in 2007, had initially wanted all foreign-owned firms to cede 51 percent stake to locals.
He backed down after Tsvangirai opposed the requirement to force all foreigners to surrender control of their investments and the coalition government later modified the rules to allow varying percentages of shareholding foreign-owned companies in various sectors of the economy must transfer to local blacks.
The committees appointed to recommend to the government the various shareholding thresholds are yet to report back to Kasukuwere.
Analysts say the empowerment drive is unlikely to succeed as most local business people are unable to raise the required funding to buy shares from foreign-owned companies.
A similar empowerment drive by Mugabe in agriculture destroyed the mainstay sector, leaving once self sufficient Zimbabwe dependent on food aid after the 86-year old leader failed to provide funding, inputs and skills training to black villagers resettled on former white-owned commercial farms to maintain production.
And critics fear that the economic empowerment is a ploy by Mugabe to reward his allies and supporters with thriving businesses in the same way his top backers in his ZANU PF party and the military were rewarded with the best farms grabbed from whites.
Large multinational corporations such as cigarette manufacturer BAT Zimbabwe, which is 80 percent British-owned; UK-controlled financial institutions Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, food group Nestlé Zimbabwe, mining giants Rio Tinto and Zimplats, and AON Insurance are some of the big foreign-owned firms that will be forced to cede control to locals. – ZimOnline.
US$1 billion Marange diamonds looted
HARARE -- Diamonds worth as much as US$ 1 billion could have been illegally mined at the Marange fields, mostly by the Zimbabwean army and the proceeds used to partly finance a campaign of violence to keep Mugabe in power while some were pocketed by members of Zimbabwe’s top military brass, ministers and President Mugabe and his wife.
While the true extent of theft of diamonds from Marange and the identities of all involved in the looting will probably never be known in the absence of an independent commission of inquiry, however, extensive investigations by ZimOnline have shown the military at the center of a well-orchestrated scheme to siphon gems from the controversial fields (also known as Chiadzwa) for delivery on the international black market for precious stones.
According to our investigations, including interviews with well-placed sources in the army, police and at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), most of the diamonds illicitly mined at Marange from 2006 to 2008 by the Zimbabwe National Army, after it evicted illegal panners and took control of the rich alluvial deposits were largely smuggled to India and Dubai and proceeds were laundered into offshore accounts and others held at the RBZ.
The black market sales were done outside the Kimberly Process, which certifies diamonds for sale on the international market.
Investigations show that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, through its governor and Mugabe’s private banker Gideon Gono, was central in facilitating the movement of proceeds from the illegal mining activities and their diversions into various accounts.
After Mugabe’s ZANU PF lost the parliamentary and presidential elections in March 2008 to Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, the Joint Operations Command (JOC), the secretive committee of securocrats running Zimbabwe convened to map a violent strategy to ensure that Mugabe would win the run-off presidential election.
The JOC includes the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF)’s top military commander General Constantine Chiwenga, army commander Philip Sibanda, air force commander Perence Shiri, police chief Augustine Chihuri, secret service director general Happyton Bonyongwe and prisons commander Paradzai Zimondi.
Electoral violence
What followed the committee’s meeting was probably the worst electoral violence ever seen in Zimbabwe.
Despite not being a military man, Gono sat on the JOC and ensured that money from illegal diamond proceeds was funnelled to fund a violent campaign which saw more than 220 senior army officers being deployed across the country to coordinate the campaign of violence towards the bloody presidential run-off on June 27, 2008 won by Mugabe.
Two senior army officers were posted per each district to coordinate the violence which involved ZANU PF youths, police, and ordinary soldiers.
The seniors were later rewarded handsomely with some getting as much as US$20 000 each long before Zimbabwe introduced dollarisation. Despite the foreign currency shortages then, plenty cash remained available to fund those key senior army officers central to Mugabe’s power grabbing plans.
The ensuing violence forced Morgan Tsvangirai – who analysts had tipped to win the second round ballot after defeating Mugabe in the first round vote -- to withdraw from the presidential run-off. The MDC claims more than 200 of its supporters were killed, some burnt alive, while tens of thousands were left homeless or injured.
ZimOnline is also authoritatively informed that it was via money from the diamond proceeds that Gono funnelled millions of dollars to accounts held by Grace Mugabe in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Mugabe’s wife travels frequently to Hong Kong where the first family has invested in a lavish lifestyle including a mansion in which their daughter, Bona, who has been attending university there lives. They also own properties in Malaysia.
After her shopping trips to Harrods in the United Kingdom and choice shops in France, Italy and Spain were curtailed by European Union sanctions imposed over human rights abuses, Mrs Mugabe had shifted her shopping sprees to Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Chiwenga and Shiri, one of Mugabe’s most trusted allies, Zimondi, the late Vitalis Zvinavashe, Chiwenga’s predecessor at the helm of the ZDF, various heads of key military brigades, senior CIO officials had handsomely benefited from the proceeds of smuggled Marange diamonds.
“The same way the military top brass used Harare as a transit route for diamonds smuggled out of the Congo when Zimbabwe deployed troops there in the late 1990s replayed itself with Marange diamonds....,” said a military source, speaking on condition he was not named for fear of possible reprisals.
One retired senior Zimbabwe army official is said to have moved more than R40 million to a South African bank from proceeds of Marange diamonds sold illegally in India. This particular official and the bank concerned, one of the major four concerned cannot be named for legal reasons.
But it is common cause that some ministers, particularly Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, who has been regularly linked to shady deals at Marange, are now fabulously rich owning vast properties around Zimbabwe which cannot be afforded by their measly salaries as government officials.
Tendai Biti, the Minister of Finance in the unity government recently complained that US$ 30 million raised sales of diamonds of Marange stones could not be accounted for.
But sources say the amount identified by Biti as missing was only the tip of the iceberg and that the Finance Minister would never be able to know the exact figure involved because of the sophisticated laundering that took place.
Private jets
On several occasions, private jets of wealthy Indians would land at Harare International Airport to pick up diamonds mined from Marange. The payments would then be done offshore. No documentation would be left making it near impossible to trace the illegal exports.
“If you consider all the rot that Mugabe has allowed his top military men to get away with, it all then explains why they want him to die in power and their legendary resistance to Tsvangirai,” said one source close to the RBZ.
The looting of the Marange diamonds continued when the army started ceding control of the Marange fields to the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) until the mining rights over Marange were granted to two companies, Canadile and Mbada Diamonds, both with no traceable credentials in the diamond mining trade.
But while some ZMDC officials are now in court over their alleged looting, sources say Zimbabweans should not expect the senior army officials, and other politicians who benefited from the looting of Marange diamonds to ever be seen in the dock – at least not when they are still the bedrock of Mugabe’s power.
The six ZMDC mining executives arraigned in court are accused of stealing US$10 million from Marange proceeds through fraud and misrepresentations of diamond sales. Another US$33 million could also have been lost in the process.
These disclosures also came against a background that one of the mining companies in Chiadzwa, Canadile Miners, which has since been booted out of the contested diamond fields, has been smuggling diamonds out of Marange through Mozambique and selling them on the black market.
Ironically, government blames Canadile directors for smuggling diamonds out of the country mainly through Mozambique to sell them in the black market in Dubai, India and China, the key markets for the Marange gems.
September fallout
Canadile was recommended to Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) executives by Mines Minister Mpofu who in turn urged Mugabe to approve its mining deal.
Mugabe and Mpofu defended the company until there was a fallout over the control of the mining and sale of the diamonds in September between Canadile deputy chairman Lovemore Kurotwi and the minister.
Mpofu was accused by Kurotwi in a meeting with Mugabe in September of soliciting for bribes. Mpofu acknowledged in a meeting with ZMDC officials on September 20 that he was accused by Kurotwi of asking for bribes, but tried to pre-empt speculation that he was receiving bribes and a lot of corrupt payments to facilitate mining deals.
Aware that people were accusing him of taking bribes and corruptly enriching himself through the Chiadzwa diamonds, Mpofu himself said there was a “plethora of rumours, insinuations and allegations being leveled against him” and the ZMDC board.
Mpofu has been on a buying spree, purchasing real estate and housing properties mainly in Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria falls. This invited suspicions from the public and members of a parliamentary portfolio committee which investigated the Marange diamonds affairs earlier this year.
Mpofu has bought one of the tallest buildings in Bulawayo –York House – and has splashed thousands of dollars on high-value properties in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo.
Two cruise boats
A document listing Mpofu’s properties shows that he bought a supermarket in Victoria Falls’ Chinotimba high density suburb, three houses in a medium-density area, two cruise boats on the Zambezi, five houses in Mkhosana high density suburb, three houses in Chinotimba, two industrial stands, one large stand in Chisuma, one big industrial stand next to Chinotimba stadium, four industrial stands on the Airport road, and four medium density plots.
Mpofu reportedly bought all these properties for cash!
Even though he has a farm and supermarkets, sources close to him say that he has no such financial capacity to buy all these properties, especially for cash. Before dollarisation, he earned largely worthless Zimbabwe dollars after the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar in 1997. After dollarisation Mpofu – like all civil servants – earns a little more than US$300.
Mpofu has however denied he was using diamonds proceeds to buy personal properties. He said he got a US$1 million loan from the Commerciial Bank of Zimbabwe through his company Trebo and Khays Pvt Ltd.
Documents show that Mpofu indeed got a loan from CBZ. This is contained in a facility letter dated October 26 2009. Mpofu the signed a loan agreement for and on behalf of Trebo and Khays (Pvt) Ltd with a woman named Sikhanyisiwe Mpofu, presumably his wife or daughter.
The loan agreement was signed on December 2 2009 and expired on October 31 this year by which date all the monies due should have been repaid.
Mpofu has reportedly repaid the loan, raising further questions about his sources of income which appears well beyond his means. In any event, the CBZ loan, now Jewel Bank, was very inadequate to enable Mpofu to purchase all the properties that is registered in the names of his entities and a plethora of others he has registered in the names of relatives.
The purpose of the loan was given as to finance capital expenditure requirements. However, sources said the loan was used to mask his source of income because growing suspicions he was minting at Chiadzwa, together with other politicians and their business cronies.
The security for the loan – which represented a line of credit - included: Trebo and Khays directors’ personal guarantees for all sums due supported by first mortgage bond for US$1,4 million over stand 12265A in Bulawayo; cession of insurance policy covering the mortgaged property and cession of revenue generated from property lease rental income valued at US$82 000.
Mpofu gave his address of service as Stand 123, 4th Avenue and Fife Street, Bulawayo, a hint at the various properties he owns in the Bulawayo and elsewhere. Mpofu has mansions in Harare and Bulawayo, placing himself well above the level of prosperity of an ordinary minister and even businessman.
Ministers have since last year been earning a paltry US$350 a month, after it was increased from the US$150. Even those with farms and safari concessions seized from white farmers like Mpofu have been struggling due to lower productivity and poor management. So there is simply no way Mpofu’s wealth could have been generated from any viable business he controls.
Massive looting
The government took over the Marange fields ostensibly to ensure revenue from the diamonds is channeled into public coffers. But those in the know say the involvement of the government and particularly the army has only helped to give a cover of legitimacy to massive looting of a key national resource.
Independent mining executives estimate that diamonds worth more than US$1 billion could have been smuggled out of the country and sold in the black market over the years including after the arrival of the two dubious South African companies to partner government in the Marange diamond ventures. "Diamonds worth more than US$1 billion have been looted in Marange since 2006," a senior mining executive said.
"The pillaging was done by the soldiers, the diamond exploration and mining companies and artisanal miners; other state security agents; politicians, dealers, crooks and criminals."
Well places sources interviewed described the Chiadzwa diamond mining story as a tale of fraud, smuggling, bribery and outright theft. It is riddled with corruption, including buying-offs and paying-off of dodgy mining dealers, smugglers and politicians, and a scandalous waste of public funds. The Zimbabwean public has not benefitted in a meaningful way from the Marange diamonds.
Mbada is a joint venture between the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC)’s wholly-owned subsidiary Marange Resources and South Africa’s New Reclamation Group special purpose vehicle, Grandwell Holdings registered in Mauritius.
Canadile was a joint venture between ZMDC’s Marange Resources and South Africa’s Core Mining and Minerals.
ZMDC, through Marange Resources, concluded Memoranda of Agreement with New Reclamation Group and Core Mining for exploration of the Marange diamonds in July last year. The agreements were transitory for a period of three months within which the investors were to mobilise money and equipment to fulfill certain conditions precedent.
Even though New Reclamation and Core Mining failed to fulfill their promises, especially of investing US$100 million each, they were allowed in and continued to extract and sell the diamonds mainly for their benefit. Even some basic tenets of the agreements were violated such as making retired Air Vice-Marshal Robert Mhlanga the chairman of Mbada when the agreement said the chairman would come from ZMDC.
Scrap metal dealers
During parliamentary hearings into the Chiadzwa mining issues this earlier this year, it became clear that so many things, including Mhlanga being Mbada chairman, were imposed by government for reasons never explained.
Despite all the information and credibility gaps of the individuals and companies trying to mine in Marange, the shareholders’ agreement between ZMDC and New Reclamation was signed on August 14, 2009, while the one between ZMDC and Core Mining was signed on August 14, 2009.
The companies were given permission to mine the Marange mining title which covers 66 000 hectares. There is an attempt to increase the area to cover a vast 123 000 hectares.
The companies initially shortlisted to partner ZMDC included Benny Steinmetz Group Resources Limited (BSGR), New Reclamation Group, Southern African Investment and Infrastructure Company and Namakwa Diamonds. Other companies also engaged over the diamond investment issues include Community Energy, WMJ Lotter Consultants and Elkhart Mining.
However, New Reclamation and Core Mining were chosen even though Core Mining was not even initially on the shortlist. What was surprising was that the South African companies – which had no mining experience and capacity - were chosen ahead of several other more qualified candidates.
New Reclamation Group is a scrap metal company which a dubious record, while Core Mining is a shady company whose directors have been linked to smuggling in Angola and Mozambique and other sleazy activities like mercenary operations in Sierra Leone.
South Africa's highest competition authority, the Competition Tribunal, in 2008 fined New Reclamation R145 million for its involvement in collusion and price fixing in the ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals.
Part II: Complex plots and sub-plots
The Chiadzwa diamond mining saga has complex plots and sub-plots. It involves a chain of companies and individuals with a shady past and whose records are difficult to trace — in some cases for that reason.
The issue has its genesis in 2002 when South African diamond mining giant De Beers’ subsidiary, Kimberlitic Searches (Pvt) Ltd, was granted a four-year Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) in Chiadzwa. The EPO expired on March 28 2006.
Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR), which is registered in the London Stock Exchange, has been fighting ZMDC in the courts over the Chiadzwa diamond concessions. The fight has had many twists and turns and remains in the courts despite that in the last round that High Court judge, Justice Charles Hungwe had ruled in favour of ZMDC after reversing his own earlier ruling made last year.
The history of the fight between ZMDC and ACR is intriguing.
After Kimberlitic Searches’ EPO had expired, ACR proceeded to peg claims in the disputed area (EOP 1523) and applied for registration of numerous blocks of claims in the names of Canape Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Dashaloo Investments, Possession Investments, Heavy Stuff Investment and Olebile Investment.
ACR was then granted a diamond prospecting licence on April 4 2006. On July 21 2006 a Mutare assistant mining commissioner wrote to ACR saying their claims had been cancelled because Kimberlitic Searches had already submitted an application for an extension of the EPO.
On September 15 the Mining Commissioner in Harare wrote to ACR saying the letter rescinding their claims was incorrect and that the claims were still valid.
In August 2006 the then Mines minister Amos Midzi reserved an area which included ACR claims.
In September the minister wrote to MMCZ advising them that he had reserved an area incorporating ACR claims to prevent illegal activities. He also said MMCZ must facilitate investment with local and foreign companies.
Later in the same month Midzi visited the area with MMCZ officials and addressed illegal miners telling them that MMCZ was the only authority lawfully permitted on the site.
Boxes of diamonds
In October he warned ACR to stop clearing and fencing the claims. In November the assistant mining commissioner for Mutare told ACR that he had been instructed by his head office to cancel their claims.
In January 2007 ACR chief executive Andrew Cranswick was summoned to Borrowdale police station in Harare where police seized three sealed boxes containing 129 400 carats of diamonds.
These are the diamonds the Supreme Court in January ruled should be kept at the Reserve Bank until the case is finalised. Police had seized the diamonds in violation of the Supreme Court ruling.
Mugabe and Mines Minister Mpofu defended the move, risking criminal contempt of court charges.
Mineral claims are easy to change ownership because the Mines ministry is riddled with corruption and EPOs are granted and cancelled sometimes depending on who pays the highest “facilitation fee”!
Missing US$30 ml
Before August last year, and particularly before government started mining in Marange, smuggling was the order of the day after villagers invaded Chiadzwa. A thriving diamond underworld market ran unchallenged there since the discovery of diamonds by villagers in 2006. Prior to that there were exploration companies on the ground which were also accused of smuggling as well. So smuggling has been going on for years.
However, the situation took a new and dramatic twist since government’s involvement. Public officials, including politicians, are now directly involved supposedly to protect public resources and public interest, but not much has changed. Smuggling and stealing is still rife.
There has even been controversy about the official sale of diamonds recently under the supervision of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Initial reports said US$72 million worth of diamonds were sold but later government claimed it had only sold gems worth US$56 million. It was never clarified why there were two different figures.
Finance Minister Biti in July raised alarm over some US$30 million realised from diamonds which he said was never declared to Treasury. Mpofu tried to downplay the issue but it was never resolved.
It later resurfaced during internal ZMDC after the company’s directors failed to account for the figure.
Documents show that there was a recent ZMDC inquiry on the usage of US$30 million earned from diamond sales between October 2008 and April this year.
Biti had announced on July 14 during the presentation of his mid-year fiscal policy review statement in parliament that US$30 million realised from diamond sales was missing.
“According to the KPCS monitor, Zimbabwe recently sold at least US$30 million worth of diamonds from Marange which Treasury and ZIMRA (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) have no record or knowledge of,” Biti said.
KPCS has been involved in trying to ensure Zimbabwe did not trade diamonds outside its processes. Although the KPCS has backed Zimbabwe to export diamonds, Harare’s diamond sales are still conditional and monitored. The KPCS banned Zimbabwe from selling diamonds in May after it was discovered the country was exporting gems illegally, mainly to Dubai.
Government illegally exported diamonds through the back door to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in violation of the January Supreme Court ruling which ordered a freeze in all mining activities at the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields.
Most of the funds obtained from the controversial Dubai diamonds sales were also wired through telegraphic transfers and received through the RBZ, some through CBZ Bank and ABC Bank in Zimbabwe while some of the money was simply stashed offshore.
Evidence show that some of the beneficiaries of the diamond transactions were ZMDC’s Sandawana Mines and Lesley Faye Marsh Jewellers (Pvt) Ltd which trade as Premier Diamonds. It is not clear to whom Premier really belongs to.
Hot air
Mpofu has denied that the US$30 money had vanished and dismissed Biti’s statement as “hot air” but failed to produce evidence to rebut the finance Minister’s claims.
Mpofu said a forensic audit of diamonds mined in the controversial Marange fields was under way and would prove Biti wrong.
But investigations showed that Biti was right after all, except that the figure he mentioned was only the “tip of the iceberg”, according to some key sources.
ZMDC documents say the company’s management recently told board members that ZMDC had sold diamonds worth US$30 million between October 2008 and April 2010.
However, when the board demanded documents to support the assertion and account for the money, the records only showed revenues amounting to US$22 584 347.11. The difference of US$7 415 653.89 was not accounted for.
The issue of how Mbada and Canadile came into the fray has always been simmering.
Documents at hand show that after a due diligence between August 4-6 last year by ZMDC’s select board committee, which included the company’s executive Dominic Mubaiwa, board chairperson Gloria Mawarire, chairperson of the finance and investment committee Ashton Ndlovu, board member Mark Tsomondo and company secretary Tichaona Muhonde, shareholders’ agreements were signed but so many questions remained lingering.
Mubaiwa, Mawarire, Ndlovu, Tsomondo and Muhonde were last week arrested on charges of fraud relating to this due diligence exercise and other issues, including the misappropriation of US$10 million and potentially prejudicing ZMDC of US$33 million.
Canadlie deputy chairman Lovemore Kurotwi, who is also the chairman of Core Mining, was also arrested for allegedly obtaining the diamond mining concessions in a fraudulent manner.
Kurotwi is accused of lying that Core Mining was a special purpose vehicle of global mining giant Benny Steinmetz Group Resources Limited (BSG Resources Ltd) when it was not.
Kurotwi was arrested after he recently accused Mpofu in front of Mugabe of soliciting bribes during the cutting of the controversial diamond deals.
Minutes of a meeting between Mpofu and ZMDC board members held on September 20 at the Mines ministry’s board room say that the minister confirmed that Kurotwi had personally accused him of soliciting bribes in front of Mugabe.
This, among other grounds including fraudulent misrepresentation of Core Mining and Minerals’ corporate profile and investment portfolio, was said to be the reason behind Kurotwi’s arrest.
Obedient Son
Mpofu –– who signed off his letters to Mugabe as “your ever obedient son” –– had initially in the meeting with ZMDC board members started with a disclaimer that there were “rumours, insinuations and allegations” of corruption levelled against him and the board.
He went on to narrate to ZMDC board members his encounter with Kurotwi in a meeting with Mugabe.
“The minister noted that in his meeting with His Excellency (Mugabe), Mr Kurotwi made a number of allegations against him and against the board members,” minutes of the September 20 meeting say.
“Mr Kurotwi alleged that the minister was being a stumbling block to the setting up of the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre which he incorrectly alleges was part of the original joint venture agreement,” the minutes say.
They also say “that board members of the (Zimbabwe) Mining Development Corporation were working in cahoots with the minister against Canadile Miners, that the minister is directing the board to work against him (Kurotwi), that there were attempts from the minister to solicit bribes from him and to divide Core (Mining) shareholders and turn them against Mr Kurotwi.”
Minutes say Kurotwi had accused Mpofu of asking for bribes and trying to divide Core Mining shareholders and turn them against him as the main investor.
Kurotwi grilled
The minutes say instead of confronting Mpofu over Kurotwi’s sensational allegations, Mugabe actually turned against the Canadile and Core Mining executive, grilling him over many issues.
The fallout between Mugabe and Mpofu on the one hand and Kurotwi on the other mostly exposed Mugabe because as he had staked his reputation as president in March this year, claiming the issuing of mining contracts and concessions to what government claimed were “approved strategic investors” in Marange was above board.
When MPs tried to investigate the issue earlier this year, Mugabe in March intervened personally making a spirited defence and justification of the dubious diamond mining arrangements.
“We had a list of companies applying. Finally two of them, Mbada and Canadile, were chosen. They were recommended and I was shown the papers and their proposals. The ministry (of mines) then decided that for now they were preferable to the rest. We said fine. There are the ones who there for now,” Mugabe said.
However, Mugabe’s encounter with Mpofu and Kurotwi reveals that either he just believed what he was told and did not read the “papers and proposals” he said he was shown or he was hoodwinked. It is also possible that are other unknown reasons why Mugabe defended Mbada and Canadile.
During his meeting with Mpofu and Kurotwi in September, Mugabe found himself in an invidious position.
Documents show that after Kurotwi accused Mpofu of soliciting bribes, Mugabe, instead of confronting Mpofu over the sensational allegations, actually turned against Kurotwi and started grilling him over issues which the president himself initially claimed were above board.
Mugabe to the defence
Mugabe asked Kurotwi about Core Mining’s corporate profile, its incorporation and whether it was true that the company was backed by BSG Resources Ltd.
Kurotwi approached Mpofu in March last year saying he was a representative of BSG Resources when he was not.
He then wrote a letter to Mpofu saying he represented Core Mining, purportedly a special purpose vehicle for BSGR which wanted to invest US$2 billion in Marange diamonds.
Kurotwi and ZMDC officials were arrested over this issue over which they are accused of fraudulent misrepresentations and prejudicing ZMDC of US$10 million and trying to defraud the company of US$33 million.
Mugabe, according to the minutes, also asked Kurotwi about his educational background and mining experience. The president also asked him how he expected Mpofu to sanction construction of the diamond centre without approval from his office, showing Mugabe is closely involved in the Chiadzwa diamond mining activities.
Mugabe also queried Kurotwi over the ownership of the land on which the diamond centre was to be built.
Further, Mugabe asked how much Core Mining had invested and why it was unable to bring the US$100 million it promised, as well as why the company had borrowed US$1,5 million from Agribank.
Minutes say Kurotwi did not give Mugabe “credible answers”. After that meeting Mugabe ordered an internal ZMDC investigation which led to the arrest of Kurotwi and five ZMDC officials.
But no one in the know about the Marange affairs expects the army of the law to be long enough to reach, Mugabe, his wife, his army generals and CIO officials who sources allege looted the alluvial deposits the most. – ZimOnline
While the true extent of theft of diamonds from Marange and the identities of all involved in the looting will probably never be known in the absence of an independent commission of inquiry, however, extensive investigations by ZimOnline have shown the military at the center of a well-orchestrated scheme to siphon gems from the controversial fields (also known as Chiadzwa) for delivery on the international black market for precious stones.
According to our investigations, including interviews with well-placed sources in the army, police and at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), most of the diamonds illicitly mined at Marange from 2006 to 2008 by the Zimbabwe National Army, after it evicted illegal panners and took control of the rich alluvial deposits were largely smuggled to India and Dubai and proceeds were laundered into offshore accounts and others held at the RBZ.
The black market sales were done outside the Kimberly Process, which certifies diamonds for sale on the international market.
Investigations show that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, through its governor and Mugabe’s private banker Gideon Gono, was central in facilitating the movement of proceeds from the illegal mining activities and their diversions into various accounts.
After Mugabe’s ZANU PF lost the parliamentary and presidential elections in March 2008 to Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, the Joint Operations Command (JOC), the secretive committee of securocrats running Zimbabwe convened to map a violent strategy to ensure that Mugabe would win the run-off presidential election.
The JOC includes the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF)’s top military commander General Constantine Chiwenga, army commander Philip Sibanda, air force commander Perence Shiri, police chief Augustine Chihuri, secret service director general Happyton Bonyongwe and prisons commander Paradzai Zimondi.
Electoral violence
What followed the committee’s meeting was probably the worst electoral violence ever seen in Zimbabwe.
Despite not being a military man, Gono sat on the JOC and ensured that money from illegal diamond proceeds was funnelled to fund a violent campaign which saw more than 220 senior army officers being deployed across the country to coordinate the campaign of violence towards the bloody presidential run-off on June 27, 2008 won by Mugabe.
Two senior army officers were posted per each district to coordinate the violence which involved ZANU PF youths, police, and ordinary soldiers.
The seniors were later rewarded handsomely with some getting as much as US$20 000 each long before Zimbabwe introduced dollarisation. Despite the foreign currency shortages then, plenty cash remained available to fund those key senior army officers central to Mugabe’s power grabbing plans.
The ensuing violence forced Morgan Tsvangirai – who analysts had tipped to win the second round ballot after defeating Mugabe in the first round vote -- to withdraw from the presidential run-off. The MDC claims more than 200 of its supporters were killed, some burnt alive, while tens of thousands were left homeless or injured.
ZimOnline is also authoritatively informed that it was via money from the diamond proceeds that Gono funnelled millions of dollars to accounts held by Grace Mugabe in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Mugabe’s wife travels frequently to Hong Kong where the first family has invested in a lavish lifestyle including a mansion in which their daughter, Bona, who has been attending university there lives. They also own properties in Malaysia.
After her shopping trips to Harrods in the United Kingdom and choice shops in France, Italy and Spain were curtailed by European Union sanctions imposed over human rights abuses, Mrs Mugabe had shifted her shopping sprees to Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Chiwenga and Shiri, one of Mugabe’s most trusted allies, Zimondi, the late Vitalis Zvinavashe, Chiwenga’s predecessor at the helm of the ZDF, various heads of key military brigades, senior CIO officials had handsomely benefited from the proceeds of smuggled Marange diamonds.
“The same way the military top brass used Harare as a transit route for diamonds smuggled out of the Congo when Zimbabwe deployed troops there in the late 1990s replayed itself with Marange diamonds....,” said a military source, speaking on condition he was not named for fear of possible reprisals.
One retired senior Zimbabwe army official is said to have moved more than R40 million to a South African bank from proceeds of Marange diamonds sold illegally in India. This particular official and the bank concerned, one of the major four concerned cannot be named for legal reasons.
But it is common cause that some ministers, particularly Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, who has been regularly linked to shady deals at Marange, are now fabulously rich owning vast properties around Zimbabwe which cannot be afforded by their measly salaries as government officials.
Tendai Biti, the Minister of Finance in the unity government recently complained that US$ 30 million raised sales of diamonds of Marange stones could not be accounted for.
But sources say the amount identified by Biti as missing was only the tip of the iceberg and that the Finance Minister would never be able to know the exact figure involved because of the sophisticated laundering that took place.
Private jets
On several occasions, private jets of wealthy Indians would land at Harare International Airport to pick up diamonds mined from Marange. The payments would then be done offshore. No documentation would be left making it near impossible to trace the illegal exports.
“If you consider all the rot that Mugabe has allowed his top military men to get away with, it all then explains why they want him to die in power and their legendary resistance to Tsvangirai,” said one source close to the RBZ.
The looting of the Marange diamonds continued when the army started ceding control of the Marange fields to the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) until the mining rights over Marange were granted to two companies, Canadile and Mbada Diamonds, both with no traceable credentials in the diamond mining trade.
But while some ZMDC officials are now in court over their alleged looting, sources say Zimbabweans should not expect the senior army officials, and other politicians who benefited from the looting of Marange diamonds to ever be seen in the dock – at least not when they are still the bedrock of Mugabe’s power.
The six ZMDC mining executives arraigned in court are accused of stealing US$10 million from Marange proceeds through fraud and misrepresentations of diamond sales. Another US$33 million could also have been lost in the process.
These disclosures also came against a background that one of the mining companies in Chiadzwa, Canadile Miners, which has since been booted out of the contested diamond fields, has been smuggling diamonds out of Marange through Mozambique and selling them on the black market.
Ironically, government blames Canadile directors for smuggling diamonds out of the country mainly through Mozambique to sell them in the black market in Dubai, India and China, the key markets for the Marange gems.
September fallout
Canadile was recommended to Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) executives by Mines Minister Mpofu who in turn urged Mugabe to approve its mining deal.
Mugabe and Mpofu defended the company until there was a fallout over the control of the mining and sale of the diamonds in September between Canadile deputy chairman Lovemore Kurotwi and the minister.
Mpofu was accused by Kurotwi in a meeting with Mugabe in September of soliciting for bribes. Mpofu acknowledged in a meeting with ZMDC officials on September 20 that he was accused by Kurotwi of asking for bribes, but tried to pre-empt speculation that he was receiving bribes and a lot of corrupt payments to facilitate mining deals.
Aware that people were accusing him of taking bribes and corruptly enriching himself through the Chiadzwa diamonds, Mpofu himself said there was a “plethora of rumours, insinuations and allegations being leveled against him” and the ZMDC board.
Mpofu has been on a buying spree, purchasing real estate and housing properties mainly in Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria falls. This invited suspicions from the public and members of a parliamentary portfolio committee which investigated the Marange diamonds affairs earlier this year.
Mpofu has bought one of the tallest buildings in Bulawayo –York House – and has splashed thousands of dollars on high-value properties in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo.
Two cruise boats
A document listing Mpofu’s properties shows that he bought a supermarket in Victoria Falls’ Chinotimba high density suburb, three houses in a medium-density area, two cruise boats on the Zambezi, five houses in Mkhosana high density suburb, three houses in Chinotimba, two industrial stands, one large stand in Chisuma, one big industrial stand next to Chinotimba stadium, four industrial stands on the Airport road, and four medium density plots.
Mpofu reportedly bought all these properties for cash!
Even though he has a farm and supermarkets, sources close to him say that he has no such financial capacity to buy all these properties, especially for cash. Before dollarisation, he earned largely worthless Zimbabwe dollars after the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar in 1997. After dollarisation Mpofu – like all civil servants – earns a little more than US$300.
Mpofu has however denied he was using diamonds proceeds to buy personal properties. He said he got a US$1 million loan from the Commerciial Bank of Zimbabwe through his company Trebo and Khays Pvt Ltd.
Documents show that Mpofu indeed got a loan from CBZ. This is contained in a facility letter dated October 26 2009. Mpofu the signed a loan agreement for and on behalf of Trebo and Khays (Pvt) Ltd with a woman named Sikhanyisiwe Mpofu, presumably his wife or daughter.
The loan agreement was signed on December 2 2009 and expired on October 31 this year by which date all the monies due should have been repaid.
Mpofu has reportedly repaid the loan, raising further questions about his sources of income which appears well beyond his means. In any event, the CBZ loan, now Jewel Bank, was very inadequate to enable Mpofu to purchase all the properties that is registered in the names of his entities and a plethora of others he has registered in the names of relatives.
The purpose of the loan was given as to finance capital expenditure requirements. However, sources said the loan was used to mask his source of income because growing suspicions he was minting at Chiadzwa, together with other politicians and their business cronies.
The security for the loan – which represented a line of credit - included: Trebo and Khays directors’ personal guarantees for all sums due supported by first mortgage bond for US$1,4 million over stand 12265A in Bulawayo; cession of insurance policy covering the mortgaged property and cession of revenue generated from property lease rental income valued at US$82 000.
Mpofu gave his address of service as Stand 123, 4th Avenue and Fife Street, Bulawayo, a hint at the various properties he owns in the Bulawayo and elsewhere. Mpofu has mansions in Harare and Bulawayo, placing himself well above the level of prosperity of an ordinary minister and even businessman.
Ministers have since last year been earning a paltry US$350 a month, after it was increased from the US$150. Even those with farms and safari concessions seized from white farmers like Mpofu have been struggling due to lower productivity and poor management. So there is simply no way Mpofu’s wealth could have been generated from any viable business he controls.
Massive looting
The government took over the Marange fields ostensibly to ensure revenue from the diamonds is channeled into public coffers. But those in the know say the involvement of the government and particularly the army has only helped to give a cover of legitimacy to massive looting of a key national resource.
Independent mining executives estimate that diamonds worth more than US$1 billion could have been smuggled out of the country and sold in the black market over the years including after the arrival of the two dubious South African companies to partner government in the Marange diamond ventures. "Diamonds worth more than US$1 billion have been looted in Marange since 2006," a senior mining executive said.
"The pillaging was done by the soldiers, the diamond exploration and mining companies and artisanal miners; other state security agents; politicians, dealers, crooks and criminals."
Well places sources interviewed described the Chiadzwa diamond mining story as a tale of fraud, smuggling, bribery and outright theft. It is riddled with corruption, including buying-offs and paying-off of dodgy mining dealers, smugglers and politicians, and a scandalous waste of public funds. The Zimbabwean public has not benefitted in a meaningful way from the Marange diamonds.
Mbada is a joint venture between the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC)’s wholly-owned subsidiary Marange Resources and South Africa’s New Reclamation Group special purpose vehicle, Grandwell Holdings registered in Mauritius.
Canadile was a joint venture between ZMDC’s Marange Resources and South Africa’s Core Mining and Minerals.
ZMDC, through Marange Resources, concluded Memoranda of Agreement with New Reclamation Group and Core Mining for exploration of the Marange diamonds in July last year. The agreements were transitory for a period of three months within which the investors were to mobilise money and equipment to fulfill certain conditions precedent.
Even though New Reclamation and Core Mining failed to fulfill their promises, especially of investing US$100 million each, they were allowed in and continued to extract and sell the diamonds mainly for their benefit. Even some basic tenets of the agreements were violated such as making retired Air Vice-Marshal Robert Mhlanga the chairman of Mbada when the agreement said the chairman would come from ZMDC.
Scrap metal dealers
During parliamentary hearings into the Chiadzwa mining issues this earlier this year, it became clear that so many things, including Mhlanga being Mbada chairman, were imposed by government for reasons never explained.
Despite all the information and credibility gaps of the individuals and companies trying to mine in Marange, the shareholders’ agreement between ZMDC and New Reclamation was signed on August 14, 2009, while the one between ZMDC and Core Mining was signed on August 14, 2009.
The companies were given permission to mine the Marange mining title which covers 66 000 hectares. There is an attempt to increase the area to cover a vast 123 000 hectares.
The companies initially shortlisted to partner ZMDC included Benny Steinmetz Group Resources Limited (BSGR), New Reclamation Group, Southern African Investment and Infrastructure Company and Namakwa Diamonds. Other companies also engaged over the diamond investment issues include Community Energy, WMJ Lotter Consultants and Elkhart Mining.
However, New Reclamation and Core Mining were chosen even though Core Mining was not even initially on the shortlist. What was surprising was that the South African companies – which had no mining experience and capacity - were chosen ahead of several other more qualified candidates.
New Reclamation Group is a scrap metal company which a dubious record, while Core Mining is a shady company whose directors have been linked to smuggling in Angola and Mozambique and other sleazy activities like mercenary operations in Sierra Leone.
South Africa's highest competition authority, the Competition Tribunal, in 2008 fined New Reclamation R145 million for its involvement in collusion and price fixing in the ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals.
Part II: Complex plots and sub-plots
The Chiadzwa diamond mining saga has complex plots and sub-plots. It involves a chain of companies and individuals with a shady past and whose records are difficult to trace — in some cases for that reason.
The issue has its genesis in 2002 when South African diamond mining giant De Beers’ subsidiary, Kimberlitic Searches (Pvt) Ltd, was granted a four-year Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) in Chiadzwa. The EPO expired on March 28 2006.
Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR), which is registered in the London Stock Exchange, has been fighting ZMDC in the courts over the Chiadzwa diamond concessions. The fight has had many twists and turns and remains in the courts despite that in the last round that High Court judge, Justice Charles Hungwe had ruled in favour of ZMDC after reversing his own earlier ruling made last year.
The history of the fight between ZMDC and ACR is intriguing.
After Kimberlitic Searches’ EPO had expired, ACR proceeded to peg claims in the disputed area (EOP 1523) and applied for registration of numerous blocks of claims in the names of Canape Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Dashaloo Investments, Possession Investments, Heavy Stuff Investment and Olebile Investment.
ACR was then granted a diamond prospecting licence on April 4 2006. On July 21 2006 a Mutare assistant mining commissioner wrote to ACR saying their claims had been cancelled because Kimberlitic Searches had already submitted an application for an extension of the EPO.
On September 15 the Mining Commissioner in Harare wrote to ACR saying the letter rescinding their claims was incorrect and that the claims were still valid.
In August 2006 the then Mines minister Amos Midzi reserved an area which included ACR claims.
In September the minister wrote to MMCZ advising them that he had reserved an area incorporating ACR claims to prevent illegal activities. He also said MMCZ must facilitate investment with local and foreign companies.
Later in the same month Midzi visited the area with MMCZ officials and addressed illegal miners telling them that MMCZ was the only authority lawfully permitted on the site.
Boxes of diamonds
In October he warned ACR to stop clearing and fencing the claims. In November the assistant mining commissioner for Mutare told ACR that he had been instructed by his head office to cancel their claims.
In January 2007 ACR chief executive Andrew Cranswick was summoned to Borrowdale police station in Harare where police seized three sealed boxes containing 129 400 carats of diamonds.
These are the diamonds the Supreme Court in January ruled should be kept at the Reserve Bank until the case is finalised. Police had seized the diamonds in violation of the Supreme Court ruling.
Mugabe and Mines Minister Mpofu defended the move, risking criminal contempt of court charges.
Mineral claims are easy to change ownership because the Mines ministry is riddled with corruption and EPOs are granted and cancelled sometimes depending on who pays the highest “facilitation fee”!
Missing US$30 ml
Before August last year, and particularly before government started mining in Marange, smuggling was the order of the day after villagers invaded Chiadzwa. A thriving diamond underworld market ran unchallenged there since the discovery of diamonds by villagers in 2006. Prior to that there were exploration companies on the ground which were also accused of smuggling as well. So smuggling has been going on for years.
However, the situation took a new and dramatic twist since government’s involvement. Public officials, including politicians, are now directly involved supposedly to protect public resources and public interest, but not much has changed. Smuggling and stealing is still rife.
There has even been controversy about the official sale of diamonds recently under the supervision of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Initial reports said US$72 million worth of diamonds were sold but later government claimed it had only sold gems worth US$56 million. It was never clarified why there were two different figures.
Finance Minister Biti in July raised alarm over some US$30 million realised from diamonds which he said was never declared to Treasury. Mpofu tried to downplay the issue but it was never resolved.
It later resurfaced during internal ZMDC after the company’s directors failed to account for the figure.
Documents show that there was a recent ZMDC inquiry on the usage of US$30 million earned from diamond sales between October 2008 and April this year.
Biti had announced on July 14 during the presentation of his mid-year fiscal policy review statement in parliament that US$30 million realised from diamond sales was missing.
“According to the KPCS monitor, Zimbabwe recently sold at least US$30 million worth of diamonds from Marange which Treasury and ZIMRA (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) have no record or knowledge of,” Biti said.
KPCS has been involved in trying to ensure Zimbabwe did not trade diamonds outside its processes. Although the KPCS has backed Zimbabwe to export diamonds, Harare’s diamond sales are still conditional and monitored. The KPCS banned Zimbabwe from selling diamonds in May after it was discovered the country was exporting gems illegally, mainly to Dubai.
Government illegally exported diamonds through the back door to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in violation of the January Supreme Court ruling which ordered a freeze in all mining activities at the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields.
Most of the funds obtained from the controversial Dubai diamonds sales were also wired through telegraphic transfers and received through the RBZ, some through CBZ Bank and ABC Bank in Zimbabwe while some of the money was simply stashed offshore.
Evidence show that some of the beneficiaries of the diamond transactions were ZMDC’s Sandawana Mines and Lesley Faye Marsh Jewellers (Pvt) Ltd which trade as Premier Diamonds. It is not clear to whom Premier really belongs to.
Hot air
Mpofu has denied that the US$30 money had vanished and dismissed Biti’s statement as “hot air” but failed to produce evidence to rebut the finance Minister’s claims.
Mpofu said a forensic audit of diamonds mined in the controversial Marange fields was under way and would prove Biti wrong.
But investigations showed that Biti was right after all, except that the figure he mentioned was only the “tip of the iceberg”, according to some key sources.
ZMDC documents say the company’s management recently told board members that ZMDC had sold diamonds worth US$30 million between October 2008 and April 2010.
However, when the board demanded documents to support the assertion and account for the money, the records only showed revenues amounting to US$22 584 347.11. The difference of US$7 415 653.89 was not accounted for.
The issue of how Mbada and Canadile came into the fray has always been simmering.
Documents at hand show that after a due diligence between August 4-6 last year by ZMDC’s select board committee, which included the company’s executive Dominic Mubaiwa, board chairperson Gloria Mawarire, chairperson of the finance and investment committee Ashton Ndlovu, board member Mark Tsomondo and company secretary Tichaona Muhonde, shareholders’ agreements were signed but so many questions remained lingering.
Mubaiwa, Mawarire, Ndlovu, Tsomondo and Muhonde were last week arrested on charges of fraud relating to this due diligence exercise and other issues, including the misappropriation of US$10 million and potentially prejudicing ZMDC of US$33 million.
Canadlie deputy chairman Lovemore Kurotwi, who is also the chairman of Core Mining, was also arrested for allegedly obtaining the diamond mining concessions in a fraudulent manner.
Kurotwi is accused of lying that Core Mining was a special purpose vehicle of global mining giant Benny Steinmetz Group Resources Limited (BSG Resources Ltd) when it was not.
Kurotwi was arrested after he recently accused Mpofu in front of Mugabe of soliciting bribes during the cutting of the controversial diamond deals.
Minutes of a meeting between Mpofu and ZMDC board members held on September 20 at the Mines ministry’s board room say that the minister confirmed that Kurotwi had personally accused him of soliciting bribes in front of Mugabe.
This, among other grounds including fraudulent misrepresentation of Core Mining and Minerals’ corporate profile and investment portfolio, was said to be the reason behind Kurotwi’s arrest.
Obedient Son
Mpofu –– who signed off his letters to Mugabe as “your ever obedient son” –– had initially in the meeting with ZMDC board members started with a disclaimer that there were “rumours, insinuations and allegations” of corruption levelled against him and the board.
He went on to narrate to ZMDC board members his encounter with Kurotwi in a meeting with Mugabe.
“The minister noted that in his meeting with His Excellency (Mugabe), Mr Kurotwi made a number of allegations against him and against the board members,” minutes of the September 20 meeting say.
“Mr Kurotwi alleged that the minister was being a stumbling block to the setting up of the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre which he incorrectly alleges was part of the original joint venture agreement,” the minutes say.
They also say “that board members of the (Zimbabwe) Mining Development Corporation were working in cahoots with the minister against Canadile Miners, that the minister is directing the board to work against him (Kurotwi), that there were attempts from the minister to solicit bribes from him and to divide Core (Mining) shareholders and turn them against Mr Kurotwi.”
Minutes say Kurotwi had accused Mpofu of asking for bribes and trying to divide Core Mining shareholders and turn them against him as the main investor.
Kurotwi grilled
The minutes say instead of confronting Mpofu over Kurotwi’s sensational allegations, Mugabe actually turned against the Canadile and Core Mining executive, grilling him over many issues.
The fallout between Mugabe and Mpofu on the one hand and Kurotwi on the other mostly exposed Mugabe because as he had staked his reputation as president in March this year, claiming the issuing of mining contracts and concessions to what government claimed were “approved strategic investors” in Marange was above board.
When MPs tried to investigate the issue earlier this year, Mugabe in March intervened personally making a spirited defence and justification of the dubious diamond mining arrangements.
“We had a list of companies applying. Finally two of them, Mbada and Canadile, were chosen. They were recommended and I was shown the papers and their proposals. The ministry (of mines) then decided that for now they were preferable to the rest. We said fine. There are the ones who there for now,” Mugabe said.
However, Mugabe’s encounter with Mpofu and Kurotwi reveals that either he just believed what he was told and did not read the “papers and proposals” he said he was shown or he was hoodwinked. It is also possible that are other unknown reasons why Mugabe defended Mbada and Canadile.
During his meeting with Mpofu and Kurotwi in September, Mugabe found himself in an invidious position.
Documents show that after Kurotwi accused Mpofu of soliciting bribes, Mugabe, instead of confronting Mpofu over the sensational allegations, actually turned against Kurotwi and started grilling him over issues which the president himself initially claimed were above board.
Mugabe to the defence
Mugabe asked Kurotwi about Core Mining’s corporate profile, its incorporation and whether it was true that the company was backed by BSG Resources Ltd.
Kurotwi approached Mpofu in March last year saying he was a representative of BSG Resources when he was not.
He then wrote a letter to Mpofu saying he represented Core Mining, purportedly a special purpose vehicle for BSGR which wanted to invest US$2 billion in Marange diamonds.
Kurotwi and ZMDC officials were arrested over this issue over which they are accused of fraudulent misrepresentations and prejudicing ZMDC of US$10 million and trying to defraud the company of US$33 million.
Mugabe, according to the minutes, also asked Kurotwi about his educational background and mining experience. The president also asked him how he expected Mpofu to sanction construction of the diamond centre without approval from his office, showing Mugabe is closely involved in the Chiadzwa diamond mining activities.
Mugabe also queried Kurotwi over the ownership of the land on which the diamond centre was to be built.
Further, Mugabe asked how much Core Mining had invested and why it was unable to bring the US$100 million it promised, as well as why the company had borrowed US$1,5 million from Agribank.
Minutes say Kurotwi did not give Mugabe “credible answers”. After that meeting Mugabe ordered an internal ZMDC investigation which led to the arrest of Kurotwi and five ZMDC officials.
But no one in the know about the Marange affairs expects the army of the law to be long enough to reach, Mugabe, his wife, his army generals and CIO officials who sources allege looted the alluvial deposits the most. – ZimOnline
WikiLeaks — Election fodder for ZANU-PF
Thursday, 09 December 2010 14:11
Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
AS Washington goes into an over-drive to minimise the damage caused by the WikiLeaks 2007 cable that has spot-lighted the United State’s former Ambassador to Zimbabwe’s perceptions and reports on Zimbabwe, analysts say the damaging leaks are a god-send for ZANU-PF as it eyes fresh polls. Christopher Dell, the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe was last week exposed by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
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Apart from confirming the US’s interest in the internal politics of Zimbabwe, Dell made startling revelations and comments about the country’s political leaders, specifically President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and his secretary general Welshman Ncube.
He also gave his opinion on the leadership qualities of Finance Minister Tendai Biti who doubles up as the MDC-T secretary general and the party’s spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, exposure analysts said would have some sizeable impact on the country’s political landscape.
In his confidential diplomatic cables, Dell made some disparaging comments on President Mugabe, labelling him ruthless, adding that “he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his belief in his own infallibility and his obsessive focus on the past as justification for everything in the present and future.”
But he was quick to add that: “To give him his due, he is a brilliant tactician.”
However, it’s Dell’s perception on Prime Minister Tsvangirai that analysts say would provide ZANU-PF with election campaign fodder as the country braces for fresh polls to bring finality to the shaky government of national unity (GNU).
While mentioning that the premier was a democrat and a brave man, probably for standing up against President Mugabe and ZANU-PF, Dell viewed him as a flawed figure, “not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment.”
Dell added: “He (Tsvangirai) is an indispensable element for opposition success but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, Zimbabwe needs him but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country’s recovery.”
Analysts said Dell’s comments have come as a god-send for ZANU-PF seeking to rid of the popular former trade unionist and his political formation that nearly pulled the carpet under its feet in the harmonised polls in 2008, leading to the formation of the GNU President Mugabe says he is very uncomfortable to be part of.
While Dell compared Tsvangirai to Lech Walesa, the Poland democracy leader, some critics view him as more like Hamid Karzai, the Afghanistan President.
Like the Afghan leader, Tsvangirai is seen as a deeply flawed politician, whose success is nonetheless essential to the interest of the US and still offers a better alternative to the regime he is fighting.
The analysts said ZANU-PF would now view this leakage as outright evidence of the vested interests of the US in Zimbabwean politics.
ZANU-PF’s spin doctors and creative directors, added analysts, would be busy in the studio developing campaign messages and onslaught based on the WikiLeaks contents.
Charles Mangongera, a Harare-based analyst, said ZANU-PF hardliners were likely to push for hardening of positions based on what they consider to be American interference in the internal affairs of the country.
“Following the leaks, ZANU-PF has already upped the tempo of its anti-Western rhetoric in the public media and we are likely to see this persisting even up to the period of the elections next year,” said Mangongera.
“I think it is quite ominous as it sets the pace for an emotionally charged election campaign that is likely to be accompanied by widespread violence and intimidation by ZANU-PF supporters. ZANU-PF will also use the leaks to portray themselves as a victim of a broader Western regime change agenda and this will continue to be used to cloud issues for (South African President Jacob) Zuma and SADC as they seek a lasting solution to the Zimbabwean crisis,” he added.
Trevor Maisiri, an analyst with a Harare-based political think-tank, said the leaks, which were unflattering to the premier were a “penalty kick” for ZANU-PF as elections beckoned.
“It’s too much of a tempting leakage for ZANU-PF to ignore it and therefore let it flow to waste. In fact this leak may actually have come at an opportune time for ZANU-PF to really capitalise on its probable inclusion in their campaign strategy,” said Maisiri.
Maisiri said it would not be surprising for ZANU-PF to also use the leaks as further evidence within the SADC community and landscape to prop-up all the other liberation parties to stand against the MDC formations as they will be intimated as subjects of the West.
“In that regard we are likely to see such influence go beyond just the liberation parties but maybe the bedrock upon which the SADC institution begins to deride any attempts by the MDC formations to seek redress on the Zimbabwean crisis.
“SADC will not come outright in scoffing at the MDC formations but will do so diplomatically most probably by further slowing down on whatever else is adjudged to be advantageous to the MDC,” added Maisiri.
While the MDC-T and its leader were not taking the leakage seriously as there was nothing revealed in the leakage that gives any definite existence of formal agreements and strategic engagement with the US, there is a general consensus the leaks would also change the perception of many in ZANU-PF and outside that the anti-West message is not just for propaganda propulsion but may be a reality.
Maisiri noted that Dell presented Chamisa and Biti as some of the only worthy leaders in the structures of the party.
He said such American perception implied to the MDC that the Americans were not permanent friends but sought partnerships “that are only as good as delivering whatever they are seeking in Zimbabwean politics. Dell’s remarks also go further to actually look at the prospects of their working relationship with the MDC should the party win elections.
Dell expresses a pungent need to find political partners who would otherwise work in favour of the Americans once they become the Zimbabwean governmental authority. This must be a great revelation to the MDC formations, if at all they had never seen things that way.”
Dell also portrays Welshman Ncube as divisive and Arthur Mutambara as someone who is doing “too little thinking about real issues”.
In that regard, analysts note, the MDC-M may not really be a party that the US may be willing to work with or support.
This therefore leaves three options; either the US may focus on enhancing the capacity of the MDC-T in order to bring them to a level acceptable to the Americans or they may then support other serious political parties that are not the MDC-T, MDC-M or ZANU-PF or they may influence the emergence of another political party with the capacity, logic and preference that they are more comfortable with.
Tapera Kapuya, an Australian-based Zimbabwean analyst, agreed that the cables were ready fodder for President Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s propaganda.
“But the impact of these cables on grassroots supporters is untested and likely to be very minimal. Zimbabweans have seen a spectre of what the MDC can be able to deliver once in government: lower inflation, economic revival, functional schools and health care system, among other things. These are the main drivers of mass local political opinion towards parties.
“But the same cannot be said for the middle class elites whose fascination on theory exists. With this section of the population, there might be consternation.
“This section is politically important in that it represents the nation's critical mass for whom intellectual conversation and contestation over national policy happens,” he said.
Kapuya also agreed that the impact on the region and in Africa might be dire for the MDC-T and Zimbabwe’s democracy movement.
“Already, we are seeing an increase in the number of countries suffering democracy set-backs for Zimbabwe to become the country of critical emergency focus. The cables worsen matters in that they are ammunition for (President) Mugabe and his party in confirming his and his party’s fears, and the fears of his peers in the region, about the role of the US in the region and continent.
“That said, the cables are a test on MDC’s capacity to wade off international criticism and navigate potentially damaging diplomatic relations. If there was a moment for it to qualify itself and the legitimacy of its struggle to end ZANU-PF’s dominance in Zimbabwe, it is now. “The party should, variously, assert its potentialities in contesting state power for its own sake,” he added.
Takura Zhangazha, another independent analyst said ZANU-PF was only too happy to read the leaked diplomatic cables on Zimbabwe and would use it for propaganda purposes.
“But the MDC T will attempt as far as is possible to ignore these cables because of fear of offending the American government. The MDC-M will not have a coherent response but it will be about personal leaders and their individuated responses to the same,” said Zhangazha.
Writing in the United Kingdom-based Guardian newspaper, columnists Petina Gappah said:
“The reality is that Tsvangirai has always been a protest choice, and not a real one.”
“There is no question at all that Tsvangirai is a brave man, a decent human being, and from all accounts, a likeable one. But his actions as MDC leader have also revealed him to be all the things Dell said.
“Tsvangirai encapsulates the dilemma of the revolution donated from abroad; for the West, he raises the question of what to do about a pro-democracy leader who is not at all that he should be, but presents the best alternative to the regime it is fighting.”
As Washington has been forced to shake-up embassies around the world after the leakages, time will tell of their impact on Zimbabwe’s politics as the country slowly but surely trudges towards a fresh plebiscite.
Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
AS Washington goes into an over-drive to minimise the damage caused by the WikiLeaks 2007 cable that has spot-lighted the United State’s former Ambassador to Zimbabwe’s perceptions and reports on Zimbabwe, analysts say the damaging leaks are a god-send for ZANU-PF as it eyes fresh polls. Christopher Dell, the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe was last week exposed by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
\
Apart from confirming the US’s interest in the internal politics of Zimbabwe, Dell made startling revelations and comments about the country’s political leaders, specifically President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and his secretary general Welshman Ncube.
He also gave his opinion on the leadership qualities of Finance Minister Tendai Biti who doubles up as the MDC-T secretary general and the party’s spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, exposure analysts said would have some sizeable impact on the country’s political landscape.
In his confidential diplomatic cables, Dell made some disparaging comments on President Mugabe, labelling him ruthless, adding that “he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his belief in his own infallibility and his obsessive focus on the past as justification for everything in the present and future.”
But he was quick to add that: “To give him his due, he is a brilliant tactician.”
However, it’s Dell’s perception on Prime Minister Tsvangirai that analysts say would provide ZANU-PF with election campaign fodder as the country braces for fresh polls to bring finality to the shaky government of national unity (GNU).
While mentioning that the premier was a democrat and a brave man, probably for standing up against President Mugabe and ZANU-PF, Dell viewed him as a flawed figure, “not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment.”
Dell added: “He (Tsvangirai) is an indispensable element for opposition success but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, Zimbabwe needs him but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country’s recovery.”
Analysts said Dell’s comments have come as a god-send for ZANU-PF seeking to rid of the popular former trade unionist and his political formation that nearly pulled the carpet under its feet in the harmonised polls in 2008, leading to the formation of the GNU President Mugabe says he is very uncomfortable to be part of.
While Dell compared Tsvangirai to Lech Walesa, the Poland democracy leader, some critics view him as more like Hamid Karzai, the Afghanistan President.
Like the Afghan leader, Tsvangirai is seen as a deeply flawed politician, whose success is nonetheless essential to the interest of the US and still offers a better alternative to the regime he is fighting.
The analysts said ZANU-PF would now view this leakage as outright evidence of the vested interests of the US in Zimbabwean politics.
ZANU-PF’s spin doctors and creative directors, added analysts, would be busy in the studio developing campaign messages and onslaught based on the WikiLeaks contents.
Charles Mangongera, a Harare-based analyst, said ZANU-PF hardliners were likely to push for hardening of positions based on what they consider to be American interference in the internal affairs of the country.
“Following the leaks, ZANU-PF has already upped the tempo of its anti-Western rhetoric in the public media and we are likely to see this persisting even up to the period of the elections next year,” said Mangongera.
“I think it is quite ominous as it sets the pace for an emotionally charged election campaign that is likely to be accompanied by widespread violence and intimidation by ZANU-PF supporters. ZANU-PF will also use the leaks to portray themselves as a victim of a broader Western regime change agenda and this will continue to be used to cloud issues for (South African President Jacob) Zuma and SADC as they seek a lasting solution to the Zimbabwean crisis,” he added.
Trevor Maisiri, an analyst with a Harare-based political think-tank, said the leaks, which were unflattering to the premier were a “penalty kick” for ZANU-PF as elections beckoned.
“It’s too much of a tempting leakage for ZANU-PF to ignore it and therefore let it flow to waste. In fact this leak may actually have come at an opportune time for ZANU-PF to really capitalise on its probable inclusion in their campaign strategy,” said Maisiri.
Maisiri said it would not be surprising for ZANU-PF to also use the leaks as further evidence within the SADC community and landscape to prop-up all the other liberation parties to stand against the MDC formations as they will be intimated as subjects of the West.
“In that regard we are likely to see such influence go beyond just the liberation parties but maybe the bedrock upon which the SADC institution begins to deride any attempts by the MDC formations to seek redress on the Zimbabwean crisis.
“SADC will not come outright in scoffing at the MDC formations but will do so diplomatically most probably by further slowing down on whatever else is adjudged to be advantageous to the MDC,” added Maisiri.
While the MDC-T and its leader were not taking the leakage seriously as there was nothing revealed in the leakage that gives any definite existence of formal agreements and strategic engagement with the US, there is a general consensus the leaks would also change the perception of many in ZANU-PF and outside that the anti-West message is not just for propaganda propulsion but may be a reality.
Maisiri noted that Dell presented Chamisa and Biti as some of the only worthy leaders in the structures of the party.
He said such American perception implied to the MDC that the Americans were not permanent friends but sought partnerships “that are only as good as delivering whatever they are seeking in Zimbabwean politics. Dell’s remarks also go further to actually look at the prospects of their working relationship with the MDC should the party win elections.
Dell expresses a pungent need to find political partners who would otherwise work in favour of the Americans once they become the Zimbabwean governmental authority. This must be a great revelation to the MDC formations, if at all they had never seen things that way.”
Dell also portrays Welshman Ncube as divisive and Arthur Mutambara as someone who is doing “too little thinking about real issues”.
In that regard, analysts note, the MDC-M may not really be a party that the US may be willing to work with or support.
This therefore leaves three options; either the US may focus on enhancing the capacity of the MDC-T in order to bring them to a level acceptable to the Americans or they may then support other serious political parties that are not the MDC-T, MDC-M or ZANU-PF or they may influence the emergence of another political party with the capacity, logic and preference that they are more comfortable with.
Tapera Kapuya, an Australian-based Zimbabwean analyst, agreed that the cables were ready fodder for President Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s propaganda.
“But the impact of these cables on grassroots supporters is untested and likely to be very minimal. Zimbabweans have seen a spectre of what the MDC can be able to deliver once in government: lower inflation, economic revival, functional schools and health care system, among other things. These are the main drivers of mass local political opinion towards parties.
“But the same cannot be said for the middle class elites whose fascination on theory exists. With this section of the population, there might be consternation.
“This section is politically important in that it represents the nation's critical mass for whom intellectual conversation and contestation over national policy happens,” he said.
Kapuya also agreed that the impact on the region and in Africa might be dire for the MDC-T and Zimbabwe’s democracy movement.
“Already, we are seeing an increase in the number of countries suffering democracy set-backs for Zimbabwe to become the country of critical emergency focus. The cables worsen matters in that they are ammunition for (President) Mugabe and his party in confirming his and his party’s fears, and the fears of his peers in the region, about the role of the US in the region and continent.
“That said, the cables are a test on MDC’s capacity to wade off international criticism and navigate potentially damaging diplomatic relations. If there was a moment for it to qualify itself and the legitimacy of its struggle to end ZANU-PF’s dominance in Zimbabwe, it is now. “The party should, variously, assert its potentialities in contesting state power for its own sake,” he added.
Takura Zhangazha, another independent analyst said ZANU-PF was only too happy to read the leaked diplomatic cables on Zimbabwe and would use it for propaganda purposes.
“But the MDC T will attempt as far as is possible to ignore these cables because of fear of offending the American government. The MDC-M will not have a coherent response but it will be about personal leaders and their individuated responses to the same,” said Zhangazha.
Writing in the United Kingdom-based Guardian newspaper, columnists Petina Gappah said:
“The reality is that Tsvangirai has always been a protest choice, and not a real one.”
“There is no question at all that Tsvangirai is a brave man, a decent human being, and from all accounts, a likeable one. But his actions as MDC leader have also revealed him to be all the things Dell said.
“Tsvangirai encapsulates the dilemma of the revolution donated from abroad; for the West, he raises the question of what to do about a pro-democracy leader who is not at all that he should be, but presents the best alternative to the regime it is fighting.”
As Washington has been forced to shake-up embassies around the world after the leakages, time will tell of their impact on Zimbabwe’s politics as the country slowly but surely trudges towards a fresh plebiscite.
Wikileaks cables: 3 000 are on Zimbabwe
Foreign Affairs Minister, Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, says the recent revelations by wikileaks website on former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Christopher Dell’s projects and operations to effect regime change in the country, are just but a tip of the iceberg.
In an interview with the ZBC News in Harare on Monday, Cde Mumbengegwi said nearly 3 000 of the 250 000 wikileaks cables that have been exposed to the world, are on Zimbabwe.
“This is not a new story, but we as Zanu-PF have always talked about it. Some people thought that it was a lie, but the wikileaks have exposed the west’s regime change agenda in Zimbabwe,” said Cde Mumbengegwi.
In his report entitled, "The End is Nigh," former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Christopher Dell sheds light on the US regime change strategy in Zimbabwe, and its hand in the 2008 harmonised elections.
His advice to the US State Department at the time was: "Stay the course and prepare for change in Zimbabwe. Our policy is working and it's helping to drive change here. What is required is simply the grit, determination and focus to see this through. Then, when the changes finally come, we must be ready to move quickly to help consolidate the new dispensation."
After considering various regime change scenarios, Mr Dell's cables revealed that fuel and food shortages were to be used as a tool for regime change.
Fuel and food shortages prompted Mr Dell to say "for the first time, the President is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts" and that President Mugabe was "running out of options."
He said it was up to the US "once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things."
The MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, repeated the same call for international supervision during his campaign in 2007-8.
Minister Mumbengegwi said the revelations have shown clearly to the world including to Zimbabweans and their allies in SADC, the African Union and other organisations that support Zimbabwe that the close collaboration between the MDC-T and the west seeks to reverse the gains of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
“The people who colonised us for nearly a century want to come back to rule us again and loot our natural resources. With these wikileaks revelations, no one doubts that there are people in our country, who are working in collaboration with those who want to recolonise us and loot our resources,” said Cde Mumbengegwi.
Cde Mumbengegwi said Mr Dell’s admission that he gave money to support the MDC-T to effect regime change in Zimbabwe is a gross violation of the Vienna Convention, which is against interference in the internal affairs of a host country by a diplomat of another country.
He said Zimbabwe will not tolerate any interference in its internal affairs by any country no matter how powerful, adding that Mr Dell’s utterances on wikileaks is clear evidence that an American diplomat violated Zimbabwean law.
Minister Mumbengegwi noted that the revelations are vindication to Zanu-PF, which has been telling its allies that the MDC is working in cahoots with foreigners to destabilise Zimbabwe.
In another related development, America’s regime change operations in Zimbabwe over the past 3 years were again exposed following the leaking of a fiscal year 2010 mission strategic plan from the US embassy in Harare.
Under the plan, the embassy requested some US$140 million for the clandestine project in which a 3 pronged approach was to be used to try and effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
In an interview with the ZBC News in Harare on Monday, Cde Mumbengegwi said nearly 3 000 of the 250 000 wikileaks cables that have been exposed to the world, are on Zimbabwe.
“This is not a new story, but we as Zanu-PF have always talked about it. Some people thought that it was a lie, but the wikileaks have exposed the west’s regime change agenda in Zimbabwe,” said Cde Mumbengegwi.
In his report entitled, "The End is Nigh," former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Christopher Dell sheds light on the US regime change strategy in Zimbabwe, and its hand in the 2008 harmonised elections.
His advice to the US State Department at the time was: "Stay the course and prepare for change in Zimbabwe. Our policy is working and it's helping to drive change here. What is required is simply the grit, determination and focus to see this through. Then, when the changes finally come, we must be ready to move quickly to help consolidate the new dispensation."
After considering various regime change scenarios, Mr Dell's cables revealed that fuel and food shortages were to be used as a tool for regime change.
Fuel and food shortages prompted Mr Dell to say "for the first time, the President is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts" and that President Mugabe was "running out of options."
He said it was up to the US "once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things."
The MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, repeated the same call for international supervision during his campaign in 2007-8.
Minister Mumbengegwi said the revelations have shown clearly to the world including to Zimbabweans and their allies in SADC, the African Union and other organisations that support Zimbabwe that the close collaboration between the MDC-T and the west seeks to reverse the gains of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
“The people who colonised us for nearly a century want to come back to rule us again and loot our natural resources. With these wikileaks revelations, no one doubts that there are people in our country, who are working in collaboration with those who want to recolonise us and loot our resources,” said Cde Mumbengegwi.
Cde Mumbengegwi said Mr Dell’s admission that he gave money to support the MDC-T to effect regime change in Zimbabwe is a gross violation of the Vienna Convention, which is against interference in the internal affairs of a host country by a diplomat of another country.
He said Zimbabwe will not tolerate any interference in its internal affairs by any country no matter how powerful, adding that Mr Dell’s utterances on wikileaks is clear evidence that an American diplomat violated Zimbabwean law.
Minister Mumbengegwi noted that the revelations are vindication to Zanu-PF, which has been telling its allies that the MDC is working in cahoots with foreigners to destabilise Zimbabwe.
In another related development, America’s regime change operations in Zimbabwe over the past 3 years were again exposed following the leaking of a fiscal year 2010 mission strategic plan from the US embassy in Harare.
Under the plan, the embassy requested some US$140 million for the clandestine project in which a 3 pronged approach was to be used to try and effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
WikiLeaks document reveals US view of Zimbabwe
HARARE - Mugabe (Pictured) is ruthless, obsessive and deeply ignorant about economics; Morgan Tsvangirai is indecisive; Arthur Mutambara is a lightweight. These are just some of the sentiments of the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, revealed this week by WikiLeaks.
An analysis of the Zimbabwean situation, entitled The end is nigh and written by Christopher Dell as he was leaving his post in July 2007, is among the 250,000-plus confidential and secret documents gradually being released by Wikileaks.
The documents include correspondence between the US State Department and Washington’s embassies around the world. They focus on US policy and diplomatic relations between the US and countries in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.
Dell’s summing up of Zimbabwe gives insights into US thinking and objectives, as well as Washington’s opinion about the leading political players in the country. The former ambassador wrote that he felt the end was nigh for Mugabe, but that it was unclear how he would actually leave power.
Foreseeing the possibility of a coalition government, Dell said: “Less attractive is the idea of a South African-brokered transitional arrangement or government of national unity. Mbeki has always favored stability and in his mind this means a Zanu PF-led GNU, with perhaps a few MDC additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform.”
Dell describes Zimbabwe’s opposition as “far from ideal”, adding: “the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power”. The document advises keeping “the pressure on in order to keep Mugabe off his game and on his back foot, relying on his own shortcomings to do him in”.
Dell emphasises the importance of the US, stating that “the UK is ham-strung by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness….Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda”.
WikiLeaks is a not-for-profit media organisation that aims to bring important news and information to the public. The organisation provides a secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to their journalists, using a sophisticated electronic dropbox. They publish thoroughly verified original source material alongside news stories so readers and historians can see evidence of the truth.
Read the full document at www.thezimbabwean.co.uk.
An analysis of the Zimbabwean situation, entitled The end is nigh and written by Christopher Dell as he was leaving his post in July 2007, is among the 250,000-plus confidential and secret documents gradually being released by Wikileaks.
The documents include correspondence between the US State Department and Washington’s embassies around the world. They focus on US policy and diplomatic relations between the US and countries in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.
Dell’s summing up of Zimbabwe gives insights into US thinking and objectives, as well as Washington’s opinion about the leading political players in the country. The former ambassador wrote that he felt the end was nigh for Mugabe, but that it was unclear how he would actually leave power.
Foreseeing the possibility of a coalition government, Dell said: “Less attractive is the idea of a South African-brokered transitional arrangement or government of national unity. Mbeki has always favored stability and in his mind this means a Zanu PF-led GNU, with perhaps a few MDC additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform.”
Dell describes Zimbabwe’s opposition as “far from ideal”, adding: “the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power”. The document advises keeping “the pressure on in order to keep Mugabe off his game and on his back foot, relying on his own shortcomings to do him in”.
Dell emphasises the importance of the US, stating that “the UK is ham-strung by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness….Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda”.
WikiLeaks is a not-for-profit media organisation that aims to bring important news and information to the public. The organisation provides a secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to their journalists, using a sophisticated electronic dropbox. They publish thoroughly verified original source material alongside news stories so readers and historians can see evidence of the truth.
Read the full document at www.thezimbabwean.co.uk.
WikiLeaks: Zimbabwean leaders both “flawed” and “brilliant”
Zimbabwean leaders, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are featured in the on-going WikiLeaks' (unauthorised) disclosure of classified American diplomatic cables.
In it, the former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell gives his candid opinion about President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, the two men currently locked in a faltering unity government.
According to the disclosures from 2007 cables, Tsvangirai was a “flawed figure,” even though he is largely a democrat and a brave man.
“He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their neck, once in power… Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery.”
Poor Tsvangirai.
Concerning the old man Mugabe, the former US Ambassador said he is ruthless, adding: “To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician.”
Mugabe could smile at this.
But Mr Dell also added that “he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for everything in the present and future; his deep ignorance…”
How is Mugabe a tactician?
Probably, because he learned it as a guerrilla fighter, during the days of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle ( also called the Rhodesian Bush War).
Mugabe enjoys an uncommon longevity. He is right now, only four years short of 90 years. Most politicians nearing that age have long retired.
For ten years, Mugabe was a political prisoner (on charges of subversive speech) in the then Rhodesia, between 1964 to 1974, for opposing white minority rule.
While in prison, Mugabe's four year old son died, but he was not allowed to get out of prison for the funeral.
During the period of imprisonment however, he earned three degrees, including a law degree from London and a bachelor of administration from the University of South Africa by correspondence courses.
At the moment, it is thought he has as many degrees as you can count in five minutes. Some of the honours have been revoked by various institutions.
A look at Zimbabwe and its leadership today makes it hard to imagine that Mugabe used to have close ties with western countries, particularly the United States government and the British Monarchy.
In 1994, Queen Elizabeth appointed him as honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath, allowing him to use the letters GCB after his name (but not “Sir”).
The honourary knighthood was however annulled in June 2008 by the Queen, in response to “abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided.”
Mugabe is certainly not one to keep quiet in the face of accusations by western government officials. The WikiLeaks revelations that has come up with his name is one thing he would refer to in dismissing criticisms.
Governments around the world are incensed at the unauthorised publication of the various diplomatic communications.
But WikiLeaks argues that the release of the documents has sheds light on momentous events like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lives it cost which are yet to be accounted for.
That the current Zimbabwean leaders, according to the former US Ambassador have the combined characteristics of ruthlessness, needless flaws and some brilliance sheds lights on what the world already knows to some extent.
In it, the former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell gives his candid opinion about President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, the two men currently locked in a faltering unity government.
According to the disclosures from 2007 cables, Tsvangirai was a “flawed figure,” even though he is largely a democrat and a brave man.
“He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their neck, once in power… Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery.”
Poor Tsvangirai.
Concerning the old man Mugabe, the former US Ambassador said he is ruthless, adding: “To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician.”
Mugabe could smile at this.
But Mr Dell also added that “he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for everything in the present and future; his deep ignorance…”
How is Mugabe a tactician?
Probably, because he learned it as a guerrilla fighter, during the days of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle ( also called the Rhodesian Bush War).
Mugabe enjoys an uncommon longevity. He is right now, only four years short of 90 years. Most politicians nearing that age have long retired.
For ten years, Mugabe was a political prisoner (on charges of subversive speech) in the then Rhodesia, between 1964 to 1974, for opposing white minority rule.
While in prison, Mugabe's four year old son died, but he was not allowed to get out of prison for the funeral.
During the period of imprisonment however, he earned three degrees, including a law degree from London and a bachelor of administration from the University of South Africa by correspondence courses.
At the moment, it is thought he has as many degrees as you can count in five minutes. Some of the honours have been revoked by various institutions.
A look at Zimbabwe and its leadership today makes it hard to imagine that Mugabe used to have close ties with western countries, particularly the United States government and the British Monarchy.
In 1994, Queen Elizabeth appointed him as honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath, allowing him to use the letters GCB after his name (but not “Sir”).
The honourary knighthood was however annulled in June 2008 by the Queen, in response to “abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided.”
Mugabe is certainly not one to keep quiet in the face of accusations by western government officials. The WikiLeaks revelations that has come up with his name is one thing he would refer to in dismissing criticisms.
Governments around the world are incensed at the unauthorised publication of the various diplomatic communications.
But WikiLeaks argues that the release of the documents has sheds light on momentous events like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lives it cost which are yet to be accounted for.
That the current Zimbabwean leaders, according to the former US Ambassador have the combined characteristics of ruthlessness, needless flaws and some brilliance sheds lights on what the world already knows to some extent.
Zimbabwe’s Political Elite Profited From Gems, WikiLeaks Says
By Antony Sguazzin and Brian Latham
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Members of Zimbabwe’s political elite ranging from President Robert Mugabe’s wife to military leaders allegedly profited from illegal trading of diamonds, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
The November 2008 cable is one of 250,000 State Department documents obtained and posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that publishes confidential documents on its website. The cable provides details of information gleaned by U.S. diplomats from industry and government officials who say that Mugabe’s allies profit from gem smuggling from the Chiadzwa diamond field. Zimbabwean officials denied the allegations.
“High-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well- connected elites are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers,” an industry official reported to the U.S. Embassy in Harare, the capital, according to the cable from Ambassador James D. McGee. “They are selling the undocumented diamonds to a mix of foreign buyers” who then smuggle the gems out of the country.
The field, in Zimbabwe’s Marange district, was seized by the government in 2006 from Maidstone, U.K.-based African Consolidated Resources Plc. In August, Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, described the field as a richest diamond find in a century and said it could provide half of Zimbabwe’s budget.
The Kimberley Process, the Jerusalem-based global body that monitors sales of so-called conflict diamonds, has yet to decide whether exports of gems from Zimbabwe’s Marange field will be permitted. Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Kimberley Process.
President’s Wife
Grace Mugabe, the president’s wife, and the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, are among those who have benefited from the trade, the industry official said, according to the cable. Others identified as profiting include military officials.
“There is absolutely no truth in that,” Gono said yesterday in a telephone interview from Harare. “I do not know where such fabrications came from, if indeed the cable is genuine.”
George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman, didn’t answer calls made to his mobile phone.
“These are lies to discredit the party and the government,” Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, said in a telephone interview from Harare yesterday. “No officials or party members would stoop to looting.”
Sharon Hudson Dean, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Harare, declined to comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Nov. 29 that disclosure of the cables is illegal.
‘Illegal Disclosure’
“The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information,” she said in a statement on the department’s website. “It puts people’s lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.”
The State Department’s policy is not to comment on the content of specific cables, Michael Tran, a spokesman for the department, said in an interview from Washington.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in the U.K. on Dec. 8 on a Swedish warrant concerning rape allegations and remains in custody pending an extradition hearing.
Each of the Zimbabwean beneficiaries makes several hundred thousand dollars a month, the official said, according to the cable. Many of the diamonds are smuggled to Dubai, according to the cable.
Foreign and domestic human-rights organizations have criticized Zimbabwe for violence against civilians in diamond fields in the east of the country.
‘Diamond Frenzy’
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, alleged in June 2009 that Zimbabwe’s military may have killed as many as 200 people who were working on the site illegally, digging for diamonds to sell for their own gain. The group had called for a ban on Marange diamonds unless Zimbabwe adheres to Kimberley Process standards, where the origin of diamonds is certified before they are exported.
“The diamond frenzy in Chiadzwa has led to hundreds and possibly thousands of homicides,” McGee said in the cable.
The fields may contain 1,000 carats of gems per hundred tons of ore, the official said, according to McGee, citing a geologist’s report prepared for Johannesburg-based De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company. That compares with 120 carats per hundred tons at London-based Rio Tinto Plc’s Murowa mine in Zimbabwe, the official says.
Tom Tweedy, a spokesman for De Beers, declined to comment when called on his mobile phone.
--Editors: Karl Maier, Philip Sanders
To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net. Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew in Dubai at shajimathew@bloomberg.net. Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Members of Zimbabwe’s political elite ranging from President Robert Mugabe’s wife to military leaders allegedly profited from illegal trading of diamonds, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
The November 2008 cable is one of 250,000 State Department documents obtained and posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that publishes confidential documents on its website. The cable provides details of information gleaned by U.S. diplomats from industry and government officials who say that Mugabe’s allies profit from gem smuggling from the Chiadzwa diamond field. Zimbabwean officials denied the allegations.
“High-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well- connected elites are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers,” an industry official reported to the U.S. Embassy in Harare, the capital, according to the cable from Ambassador James D. McGee. “They are selling the undocumented diamonds to a mix of foreign buyers” who then smuggle the gems out of the country.
The field, in Zimbabwe’s Marange district, was seized by the government in 2006 from Maidstone, U.K.-based African Consolidated Resources Plc. In August, Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, described the field as a richest diamond find in a century and said it could provide half of Zimbabwe’s budget.
The Kimberley Process, the Jerusalem-based global body that monitors sales of so-called conflict diamonds, has yet to decide whether exports of gems from Zimbabwe’s Marange field will be permitted. Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Kimberley Process.
President’s Wife
Grace Mugabe, the president’s wife, and the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, are among those who have benefited from the trade, the industry official said, according to the cable. Others identified as profiting include military officials.
“There is absolutely no truth in that,” Gono said yesterday in a telephone interview from Harare. “I do not know where such fabrications came from, if indeed the cable is genuine.”
George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman, didn’t answer calls made to his mobile phone.
“These are lies to discredit the party and the government,” Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, said in a telephone interview from Harare yesterday. “No officials or party members would stoop to looting.”
Sharon Hudson Dean, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Harare, declined to comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Nov. 29 that disclosure of the cables is illegal.
‘Illegal Disclosure’
“The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information,” she said in a statement on the department’s website. “It puts people’s lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.”
The State Department’s policy is not to comment on the content of specific cables, Michael Tran, a spokesman for the department, said in an interview from Washington.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in the U.K. on Dec. 8 on a Swedish warrant concerning rape allegations and remains in custody pending an extradition hearing.
Each of the Zimbabwean beneficiaries makes several hundred thousand dollars a month, the official said, according to the cable. Many of the diamonds are smuggled to Dubai, according to the cable.
Foreign and domestic human-rights organizations have criticized Zimbabwe for violence against civilians in diamond fields in the east of the country.
‘Diamond Frenzy’
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, alleged in June 2009 that Zimbabwe’s military may have killed as many as 200 people who were working on the site illegally, digging for diamonds to sell for their own gain. The group had called for a ban on Marange diamonds unless Zimbabwe adheres to Kimberley Process standards, where the origin of diamonds is certified before they are exported.
“The diamond frenzy in Chiadzwa has led to hundreds and possibly thousands of homicides,” McGee said in the cable.
The fields may contain 1,000 carats of gems per hundred tons of ore, the official said, according to McGee, citing a geologist’s report prepared for Johannesburg-based De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company. That compares with 120 carats per hundred tons at London-based Rio Tinto Plc’s Murowa mine in Zimbabwe, the official says.
Tom Tweedy, a spokesman for De Beers, declined to comment when called on his mobile phone.
--Editors: Karl Maier, Philip Sanders
To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net. Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew in Dubai at shajimathew@bloomberg.net. Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
Wikileaks-Zimbabwe: Wikileaks, Nation, And Aussie Factor
Wikileaks, Nation, And Aussie Factor - When whistleblower WikiLeaks leaked some damning stuff about MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the man said he was not bothered by what former United States of America envoy to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell said about his leadership calibre.
Isn't it that the truth always hurts?
Tsvangirai also made a dramatic U-turn.
Suddenly, what the people of Zimbabwe think about him matters more than what the US, the world's self-imposed kingmakers think.
Zimbabwean analysts have been called names after writing and saying exactly what Dell said in these first set of published diplomatic briefings.
But, there is no doubt about it. The man now stands between a rock a hard place, and we hope that Zimbabwean voters will rise to the occasion, and also tell him what Dell told him.
In the 80s, some people said exactly what Tsvangirai said after the publication of late Rhodesian central intelligence supremo Ken Flower's book "Serving Secretly". He mentioned names, but some bit their lower lips and said they couldn't care less. It was their word against those of a dead man! Seeking comfort in meaningless words, when pain eats you up, and when you wonder what other skeletons would be taken out of your closet.
Why do we think that Tsvangirai is seeking solace in words uttered through one of his staffers? His paymasters through US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made several phone calls to allies reassuring them that WikiLeaks would not damage their diplomatic ties, but in Zimbabwe Tsvangirai says he is "not bothered".
This writer initially thought that the US was really worried because it did not know what this WikiLeaks computer hacker was capable of doing and the amount of damaging information he had, until a BBC December 4 report changed all that and revealed the bigger picture.
In addition, a few days ago, WikiLeaks boss was a wanted man, but on December 4, there was a question on BBC report as to whether it was possible for the Obama administration to just embrace WikiLeaks?
What had changed in the week since the WikiLeaks became a leading news item?
When BBC factored the Google/China element it became too translucent for comfort. It was a Pauline revelation on the road to Damascus. The former Soviet Union had crumbled using such tactics, and we all believed that the Cold War was over. Now that the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were becoming too economically powerful, it was also time for them to go under.
China in particular, which they prefer to use as a model since they accuse it of becoming an economic powerhouse while it ignored issues like "human rights".
And, what better weapon to use than the Internet, making available what is deemed sensitive information about leaders of some chosen countries to create a panic mode among those leaders and weaken them in the process. But, "news on demand" scuttled everything.
It became everyone's story. Exactly how the global village should operate.
Alvin and Heidi Toffler in their book "War and Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century" write about knowledge warriors, and this is not kids' stuff. They claim: "As the Third Wave war form takes shape, a new breed of 'knowledge warriors' has begun to emerge -- intellectuals in and out of uniform dedicated to the idea that knowledge can win, or prevent wars. If we look at what they are doing, we discover a step-by-step progression from initially narrow technical concerns towards sweeping conception of what will be called 'knowledge strategy'."
So, has WikiLeaks' Julian Assange become one of this new breed of "knowledge warriors" that is emerging to fight these smart wars?
While Tsvangirai might not be bothered, we question why last week US President Barack Obama, acting like George W. Bush, the war president, made a surprise visit to US soldiers in Afghanistan and told them that it was not over until it was over? He meant it, for WikiLeaks had exposed US troops to more danger after publishing diplomatic briefs on their "ally" Hamid Karzai.
Obama was also in a dilemma. He wanted to ensure the safety of American soldiers considering that the CIA had worked with a phony Taliban leader who went AWOL on them after he had been pampered and financed. Said a November 27 report: "A former American Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is reported to have asked British intelligence service MI6 rather than the CIA to develop contacts with the Taliban, and approved peace talks with a fake Taliban leader. According to The Guardian, General McChrystal also approved the release of thousands of dollars in 'goodwill payments'."
Is it coincidental that one of WikiLeaks' news source(s) are members of the US army?
But in Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai is unfazed, "not bothered" at all?
There are "attempts" to make WikiLeaks a terrorist organisation and there is right now a manhunt for Assange, but Zimbabwe's Prime Minister says he is "not bothered". Whoever sang that song, "Anopenga, ane waya, anopenga zveshuwa siyana naye", knew what he meant.
"Ain't no stopping just now!" How will Zimbabweans whom Tsvangirai now want to use as scapegoats stop WikiLeaks and its soon to be formed competitor from downloading all that information they claim to have?
Dell's remarks could be the sum total of what the West thinks about Tsvangirai. But it is notable that these comments did not come from Johnny Carson, James McGee and Charles Aaron Ray, all African-American envoys. What has race got to do with it? A lot!
This represents a caricature of dealing with the United States of America. Maybe Tsvangirai can read Patricia Cornwell's thriller (also an American writer), "Body of Evidence", and see whether he would still claim that he is "not bothered" by Dell's remarks.
When there is that much body of evidence that the US does not have permanent friends, but permanent interests, we hope that this has finally struck something in him.
The nature of the Internet is such that even the likes of British MI5's Michael Heatly/Beatle cannot control the inflow and outflow of information where hackers become instant celebrities.
When Google CEO warned young people that they would be forced to change identities because of the information trail they are leaving behind, he meant just that. When diplomacy is conducted in unbecoming ways, it bears such fruit.
The honeymoon with the Anglo-Saxon world is also over. Tsvangirai's funders and backers gave him his first objective public performance appraisal, and he has to be bothered. As with any appraisal, it is not about whether you like the outcome, for the buck stops with the one who controls the purse. You either stay on the job, get promoted, or you are fired!
Dell, representing the West, interpreted Tsvangirai with WikiLeaks giving those documents to four media houses on a selective criterion. Al-Qaeda does the same, and it means a lot, as argued by Professor Jonathan Moyo.
Maybe Tsvangirai should also start being bothered because of the Australian connection that I will illustrate.
The anti-Zimbabwe lobby is an intricate web, but surprisingly, Australia -- one of the proxies in that web -- produces more than its share of surprises. WikiLeaks' Assange is Australian.
As we watched the MDC-T's "Down Under" scenario involving Jacqueline Zwambila unfolding with breathtaking speed, we forgot that in the Zimbabwe saga, Australia was part of them. Australia has played that important role -- a former colony backing Britain and the USA -- and it has become home to many a Rhodesian and their sympathisers.
But now, it is as if MDC-T's downfall was crafted Down Under (no pun intended). Whether it is by default, only the Lord knows.
Maybe it is to do with their history -- descendants of former British convicts. Zimbabwean independence in 1980 also saw a large chunk of Rhodesians "migrating" Down Under -- at least those who were "honest" enough to spurn the hand of reconciliation extended to it by then Prime Minister Mugabe's new government. This is why Zwambila believed that she was home -- so far away, and no one from Zimbabwe would ever know about the MDC's Internet forays! She was unaware that she was just a cog in the scenario.
In the Commonwealth of Nations, 2002 could have been crucial to Australia, but for Zimbabwe and the Zanu-PF government, it was the deciding moment and they spoiled that moment for Australia.
The 2002 Brisbane Commonwealth Heads of State and Government was when the so-called international community using the Commonwealth (Britain, Australia and New Zealand) tried to push Zimbabwe into the corner.
Chogm 2002 also took place as the nation was preparing for the presidential election, the first presidential when Tsvangirai challenged President Mugabe, after his initial poor show in the 2000 parliamentary elections in Buhera North. Cde Kenneth Manyonda (Zanu-PF), an alleged relative to Tsvangirai, beat him.
The West wanted Tsvangirai to win by any means so the land reform programme could be reversed. The Commonwealth gave Zimbabwe conditions or face ejection. But more critical was the role played by then Australian prime minister John Howard. Praising him, the BBC said: "John Howard's role as chairman of the committee which approved the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth council has raised his profile on the international stage."
Contrary to common thinking, after Brisbane Chogm, Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth on its own much to the chagrin of the West. Not many had anticipated this no-turning back move by Zimbabwe. Kicking it out would have given them the opportunity to put Zimbabwe under a beggarly state to be reinstated. The Zimbabwe issue created fissures in the Commonwealth.
It is an open secret that if, and it is an if Tsvangirai wins next year's elections, Zimbabwe would be a member of the Commonwealth again.
Ari Ben Menashe
However, while in 2002 Tsvangirai was fighting for Zimbabwe's presidency, an Australian SBS's Dateline had a production titled "Killing Mugabe". In that TV programme some revelations were made that the MDC leader and some accomplices had sought the assistance of Ari Ben-Menashe, an alleged former Mossad intelligence operative, to do in President Mugabe. Tsvangirai, together with his accomplices were subsequently charged with treason.
Credence was sought when Justice George Bizos, who had defended former South African president Nelson Mandela, was roped in to defend Tsvangirai.
Meetings with Ben-Menashe did not take place in Australia, so, why was Australia interested in the story, when the cable channel did not even transmit in Zimbabwe? Was this an early warning about Australians masquerading as "knowledge warriors"?
The Australian connection does not end there. Just like the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America that welcomed thousands of Zimbabwean immigrants allegedly fleeing from torture by the Mugabe government, so too did Australia.
Then we had the exuberant John Howard. My, my, was he such an excited prime minister. He went that extra mile to ensure that Zimbabwe was punished for repossessing its land, and he did not want that to happen with Australia's Aborigines. Howard even took it upon himself to deny the Australian cricket team to come on a tour of duty to Zimbabwe, citing violence.
But the ousted Howard had never thought that there would be a life after his premiership. Early this year, he wanted an international job, and Zimbabwe was one of the countries he had to lobby where Mugabe whom he had fought is still Head of State and Government. However, Zimbabwe showed the former premier that things do not change that fast. We forgive, but not forget: "Chinokanganwa idemo, asi muti wakatemwa haukanganwi."
Ken Mufuka recently gave us another dimension of Australia in the Zimbabwe situation. In a piece in the Financial Gazette titled "Is He The One, Nathaniel, son of Manheru?' Mufuka wrote: After witnessing US President Barack Obama torn mercilessly, 24 hours a day by Fox News, for two years, the threat of news organisations is not a threat to Manheru . . ."
None other than media mogul Rupert Murdoch -- an Australian -- owns Fox News. How did he gain acceptance in the USA after destroying the UK's Fleet Street in the infamous 1987 strike when he introduced automation in newspaper production? Mufuka thinks that Zimbabweans should be acquiescent in the face of a media industry that seeks to set agendas against us, while they reap the benefits.
The Aussie connection does not seem to end, does it? Now, we have the Andrew "Diamond Baron" Cranswick saga -- moneybags reportedly being taken out of the country and Zimbabwe used as a conduit.
But the mother of all Australian connections in Zimbabwe's regime change agenda theatric -- Zwambila and her showcasing of the bankruptcy in the "chinja maitiro"agenda.
In the "Third Wave", Paul Strassmann says: "The history of warfare is the history of doctrine . . . We have a doctrine for landing on beaches, a doctrine for bombing, a doctrine for Airland Battle . . . What is missing . . . is the doctrine for information. . . . So far much of this doctrinal discussion still focuses on the details of electronic warfare -- knocking out an adversary's radar, infecting his computers with viruses, using missiles to destroy his command and intelligence centers, 'spoofing' his equipment by sending false signals, and using other means to deceive him."
But there is also another dimension in the "Third Wave", the open sources spearheaded by a former Central Intelligence Agency and Marine Corps operative, Robert D. Steele.
What do such metaphors like "open sources" mean in the WikiLeaks saga?
However, when all is said and done, WikiLeaks has helped create new perceptions, revise old ones, and in some cases, totally reconfigured others.
Tendai Hildegarde Manzvanzvike
The Herald
Isn't it that the truth always hurts?
Tsvangirai also made a dramatic U-turn.
Suddenly, what the people of Zimbabwe think about him matters more than what the US, the world's self-imposed kingmakers think.
Zimbabwean analysts have been called names after writing and saying exactly what Dell said in these first set of published diplomatic briefings.
But, there is no doubt about it. The man now stands between a rock a hard place, and we hope that Zimbabwean voters will rise to the occasion, and also tell him what Dell told him.
In the 80s, some people said exactly what Tsvangirai said after the publication of late Rhodesian central intelligence supremo Ken Flower's book "Serving Secretly". He mentioned names, but some bit their lower lips and said they couldn't care less. It was their word against those of a dead man! Seeking comfort in meaningless words, when pain eats you up, and when you wonder what other skeletons would be taken out of your closet.
Why do we think that Tsvangirai is seeking solace in words uttered through one of his staffers? His paymasters through US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made several phone calls to allies reassuring them that WikiLeaks would not damage their diplomatic ties, but in Zimbabwe Tsvangirai says he is "not bothered".
This writer initially thought that the US was really worried because it did not know what this WikiLeaks computer hacker was capable of doing and the amount of damaging information he had, until a BBC December 4 report changed all that and revealed the bigger picture.
In addition, a few days ago, WikiLeaks boss was a wanted man, but on December 4, there was a question on BBC report as to whether it was possible for the Obama administration to just embrace WikiLeaks?
What had changed in the week since the WikiLeaks became a leading news item?
When BBC factored the Google/China element it became too translucent for comfort. It was a Pauline revelation on the road to Damascus. The former Soviet Union had crumbled using such tactics, and we all believed that the Cold War was over. Now that the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were becoming too economically powerful, it was also time for them to go under.
China in particular, which they prefer to use as a model since they accuse it of becoming an economic powerhouse while it ignored issues like "human rights".
And, what better weapon to use than the Internet, making available what is deemed sensitive information about leaders of some chosen countries to create a panic mode among those leaders and weaken them in the process. But, "news on demand" scuttled everything.
It became everyone's story. Exactly how the global village should operate.
Alvin and Heidi Toffler in their book "War and Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century" write about knowledge warriors, and this is not kids' stuff. They claim: "As the Third Wave war form takes shape, a new breed of 'knowledge warriors' has begun to emerge -- intellectuals in and out of uniform dedicated to the idea that knowledge can win, or prevent wars. If we look at what they are doing, we discover a step-by-step progression from initially narrow technical concerns towards sweeping conception of what will be called 'knowledge strategy'."
So, has WikiLeaks' Julian Assange become one of this new breed of "knowledge warriors" that is emerging to fight these smart wars?
While Tsvangirai might not be bothered, we question why last week US President Barack Obama, acting like George W. Bush, the war president, made a surprise visit to US soldiers in Afghanistan and told them that it was not over until it was over? He meant it, for WikiLeaks had exposed US troops to more danger after publishing diplomatic briefs on their "ally" Hamid Karzai.
Obama was also in a dilemma. He wanted to ensure the safety of American soldiers considering that the CIA had worked with a phony Taliban leader who went AWOL on them after he had been pampered and financed. Said a November 27 report: "A former American Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is reported to have asked British intelligence service MI6 rather than the CIA to develop contacts with the Taliban, and approved peace talks with a fake Taliban leader. According to The Guardian, General McChrystal also approved the release of thousands of dollars in 'goodwill payments'."
Is it coincidental that one of WikiLeaks' news source(s) are members of the US army?
But in Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai is unfazed, "not bothered" at all?
There are "attempts" to make WikiLeaks a terrorist organisation and there is right now a manhunt for Assange, but Zimbabwe's Prime Minister says he is "not bothered". Whoever sang that song, "Anopenga, ane waya, anopenga zveshuwa siyana naye", knew what he meant.
"Ain't no stopping just now!" How will Zimbabweans whom Tsvangirai now want to use as scapegoats stop WikiLeaks and its soon to be formed competitor from downloading all that information they claim to have?
Dell's remarks could be the sum total of what the West thinks about Tsvangirai. But it is notable that these comments did not come from Johnny Carson, James McGee and Charles Aaron Ray, all African-American envoys. What has race got to do with it? A lot!
This represents a caricature of dealing with the United States of America. Maybe Tsvangirai can read Patricia Cornwell's thriller (also an American writer), "Body of Evidence", and see whether he would still claim that he is "not bothered" by Dell's remarks.
When there is that much body of evidence that the US does not have permanent friends, but permanent interests, we hope that this has finally struck something in him.
The nature of the Internet is such that even the likes of British MI5's Michael Heatly/Beatle cannot control the inflow and outflow of information where hackers become instant celebrities.
When Google CEO warned young people that they would be forced to change identities because of the information trail they are leaving behind, he meant just that. When diplomacy is conducted in unbecoming ways, it bears such fruit.
The honeymoon with the Anglo-Saxon world is also over. Tsvangirai's funders and backers gave him his first objective public performance appraisal, and he has to be bothered. As with any appraisal, it is not about whether you like the outcome, for the buck stops with the one who controls the purse. You either stay on the job, get promoted, or you are fired!
Dell, representing the West, interpreted Tsvangirai with WikiLeaks giving those documents to four media houses on a selective criterion. Al-Qaeda does the same, and it means a lot, as argued by Professor Jonathan Moyo.
Maybe Tsvangirai should also start being bothered because of the Australian connection that I will illustrate.
The anti-Zimbabwe lobby is an intricate web, but surprisingly, Australia -- one of the proxies in that web -- produces more than its share of surprises. WikiLeaks' Assange is Australian.
As we watched the MDC-T's "Down Under" scenario involving Jacqueline Zwambila unfolding with breathtaking speed, we forgot that in the Zimbabwe saga, Australia was part of them. Australia has played that important role -- a former colony backing Britain and the USA -- and it has become home to many a Rhodesian and their sympathisers.
But now, it is as if MDC-T's downfall was crafted Down Under (no pun intended). Whether it is by default, only the Lord knows.
Maybe it is to do with their history -- descendants of former British convicts. Zimbabwean independence in 1980 also saw a large chunk of Rhodesians "migrating" Down Under -- at least those who were "honest" enough to spurn the hand of reconciliation extended to it by then Prime Minister Mugabe's new government. This is why Zwambila believed that she was home -- so far away, and no one from Zimbabwe would ever know about the MDC's Internet forays! She was unaware that she was just a cog in the scenario.
In the Commonwealth of Nations, 2002 could have been crucial to Australia, but for Zimbabwe and the Zanu-PF government, it was the deciding moment and they spoiled that moment for Australia.
The 2002 Brisbane Commonwealth Heads of State and Government was when the so-called international community using the Commonwealth (Britain, Australia and New Zealand) tried to push Zimbabwe into the corner.
Chogm 2002 also took place as the nation was preparing for the presidential election, the first presidential when Tsvangirai challenged President Mugabe, after his initial poor show in the 2000 parliamentary elections in Buhera North. Cde Kenneth Manyonda (Zanu-PF), an alleged relative to Tsvangirai, beat him.
The West wanted Tsvangirai to win by any means so the land reform programme could be reversed. The Commonwealth gave Zimbabwe conditions or face ejection. But more critical was the role played by then Australian prime minister John Howard. Praising him, the BBC said: "John Howard's role as chairman of the committee which approved the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth council has raised his profile on the international stage."
Contrary to common thinking, after Brisbane Chogm, Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth on its own much to the chagrin of the West. Not many had anticipated this no-turning back move by Zimbabwe. Kicking it out would have given them the opportunity to put Zimbabwe under a beggarly state to be reinstated. The Zimbabwe issue created fissures in the Commonwealth.
It is an open secret that if, and it is an if Tsvangirai wins next year's elections, Zimbabwe would be a member of the Commonwealth again.
Ari Ben Menashe
However, while in 2002 Tsvangirai was fighting for Zimbabwe's presidency, an Australian SBS's Dateline had a production titled "Killing Mugabe". In that TV programme some revelations were made that the MDC leader and some accomplices had sought the assistance of Ari Ben-Menashe, an alleged former Mossad intelligence operative, to do in President Mugabe. Tsvangirai, together with his accomplices were subsequently charged with treason.
Credence was sought when Justice George Bizos, who had defended former South African president Nelson Mandela, was roped in to defend Tsvangirai.
Meetings with Ben-Menashe did not take place in Australia, so, why was Australia interested in the story, when the cable channel did not even transmit in Zimbabwe? Was this an early warning about Australians masquerading as "knowledge warriors"?
The Australian connection does not end there. Just like the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America that welcomed thousands of Zimbabwean immigrants allegedly fleeing from torture by the Mugabe government, so too did Australia.
Then we had the exuberant John Howard. My, my, was he such an excited prime minister. He went that extra mile to ensure that Zimbabwe was punished for repossessing its land, and he did not want that to happen with Australia's Aborigines. Howard even took it upon himself to deny the Australian cricket team to come on a tour of duty to Zimbabwe, citing violence.
But the ousted Howard had never thought that there would be a life after his premiership. Early this year, he wanted an international job, and Zimbabwe was one of the countries he had to lobby where Mugabe whom he had fought is still Head of State and Government. However, Zimbabwe showed the former premier that things do not change that fast. We forgive, but not forget: "Chinokanganwa idemo, asi muti wakatemwa haukanganwi."
Ken Mufuka recently gave us another dimension of Australia in the Zimbabwe situation. In a piece in the Financial Gazette titled "Is He The One, Nathaniel, son of Manheru?' Mufuka wrote: After witnessing US President Barack Obama torn mercilessly, 24 hours a day by Fox News, for two years, the threat of news organisations is not a threat to Manheru . . ."
None other than media mogul Rupert Murdoch -- an Australian -- owns Fox News. How did he gain acceptance in the USA after destroying the UK's Fleet Street in the infamous 1987 strike when he introduced automation in newspaper production? Mufuka thinks that Zimbabweans should be acquiescent in the face of a media industry that seeks to set agendas against us, while they reap the benefits.
The Aussie connection does not seem to end, does it? Now, we have the Andrew "Diamond Baron" Cranswick saga -- moneybags reportedly being taken out of the country and Zimbabwe used as a conduit.
But the mother of all Australian connections in Zimbabwe's regime change agenda theatric -- Zwambila and her showcasing of the bankruptcy in the "chinja maitiro"agenda.
In the "Third Wave", Paul Strassmann says: "The history of warfare is the history of doctrine . . . We have a doctrine for landing on beaches, a doctrine for bombing, a doctrine for Airland Battle . . . What is missing . . . is the doctrine for information. . . . So far much of this doctrinal discussion still focuses on the details of electronic warfare -- knocking out an adversary's radar, infecting his computers with viruses, using missiles to destroy his command and intelligence centers, 'spoofing' his equipment by sending false signals, and using other means to deceive him."
But there is also another dimension in the "Third Wave", the open sources spearheaded by a former Central Intelligence Agency and Marine Corps operative, Robert D. Steele.
What do such metaphors like "open sources" mean in the WikiLeaks saga?
However, when all is said and done, WikiLeaks has helped create new perceptions, revise old ones, and in some cases, totally reconfigured others.
Tendai Hildegarde Manzvanzvike
The Herald
Zimbabwe's diamonds are dirty, claims Wikileaks
SURAT: A US document, which says that thousands have been murdered and those close to president Robert Mugabe have been enriched by illicit diamond trade in Zimbabwe and published by Wikileaks, has come as a big jolt to diamantaires in the world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing centre in Surat and also the founders of Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Limited (SRSDIL).
The Wikileaks expose on Zimbabwe's blood diamond trade has come at a time when the company formed by 1,500 diamantaires - SRSDIL -- is eagerly awaiting the clearance of rough diamond export from Zimbabwe by Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
"In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest," according to a classified document dated November 2008 from the US embassy in the country, released this week on Wikileaks.
The Zimbabwean government, according to Wikileaks, deployed soldiers at the diamond fields in Marange in 2008 to seal off the area and clamp down on illegal mining, but rights activists say this resulted in serious rights abuses by the army. Villagers were uprooted and murders increased, the classified US documents said. The classified document cited a village chief as saying the government had relocated as many as 25,000 villagers in an attempt to secure more money.
The Wikileaks expose is likely to impact the ongoing decision making process by international diamond regulator -- Kimberley Process -- and the member countries on allowing rough diamond export from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. The KPCS has failed to break an international deadlock over Zimbabwe's suspended diamond export at two consecutive meetings. In the first meeting organised in Israel on November 1, no agreement was reached on whether to allow Zimbabwe to export its rough diamonds from Marange fields after opposition by the members from Canada, Europe and Australia.
The second meeting held at Brussels in mid-November, too, failed to reach any consensus on Zimbabwe stalemate. "The Surat industry has suffered a big setback from this development, especially the newly formed SRSDIL. The company has spent a good amount of money in the last two months to secure a deal from Zimbabwe," said a member of SRSDIL.
The Zimbabwe Diamond Consortium (ZDC) and the SRDSIL had signed a pact for the supply of $1.2 billion worth of rough diamonds mined at Marange diamond fields in October. But the pact may not see the light of the day after the Wiki expose.
In the last two auctions of KP certified goods organised by Zimbabwe government in August and September, 2010, about 90 per cent of the $100 million worth of rough diamonds sold, were purchased by the Indian diamantaires, especially from Surat. Recently, Zimbabwe announced of having mined 2.7 million carats of diamonds worth millions of dollars from Marange diamond fields and that it had an additional stockpile of 4.7 million carats of rough diamonds.
The Wikileaks expose on Zimbabwe's blood diamond trade has come at a time when the company formed by 1,500 diamantaires - SRSDIL -- is eagerly awaiting the clearance of rough diamond export from Zimbabwe by Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
"In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest," according to a classified document dated November 2008 from the US embassy in the country, released this week on Wikileaks.
The Zimbabwean government, according to Wikileaks, deployed soldiers at the diamond fields in Marange in 2008 to seal off the area and clamp down on illegal mining, but rights activists say this resulted in serious rights abuses by the army. Villagers were uprooted and murders increased, the classified US documents said. The classified document cited a village chief as saying the government had relocated as many as 25,000 villagers in an attempt to secure more money.
The Wikileaks expose is likely to impact the ongoing decision making process by international diamond regulator -- Kimberley Process -- and the member countries on allowing rough diamond export from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. The KPCS has failed to break an international deadlock over Zimbabwe's suspended diamond export at two consecutive meetings. In the first meeting organised in Israel on November 1, no agreement was reached on whether to allow Zimbabwe to export its rough diamonds from Marange fields after opposition by the members from Canada, Europe and Australia.
The second meeting held at Brussels in mid-November, too, failed to reach any consensus on Zimbabwe stalemate. "The Surat industry has suffered a big setback from this development, especially the newly formed SRSDIL. The company has spent a good amount of money in the last two months to secure a deal from Zimbabwe," said a member of SRSDIL.
The Zimbabwe Diamond Consortium (ZDC) and the SRDSIL had signed a pact for the supply of $1.2 billion worth of rough diamonds mined at Marange diamond fields in October. But the pact may not see the light of the day after the Wiki expose.
In the last two auctions of KP certified goods organised by Zimbabwe government in August and September, 2010, about 90 per cent of the $100 million worth of rough diamonds sold, were purchased by the Indian diamantaires, especially from Surat. Recently, Zimbabwe announced of having mined 2.7 million carats of diamonds worth millions of dollars from Marange diamond fields and that it had an additional stockpile of 4.7 million carats of rough diamonds.
Zimbabwe's 'Blood Diamonds' exposed by Wikileaks cable
Wikileak cables from the US embassy in Zimbabwe allege that President Robert Mugabe's family and the central bank governor are directly involved in the illegal smuggling of diamonds from the Marange fields, the world's richest concentration of alluvial gems and the scene of mass slaughter.
The Mugabe regime siezed the Marange fields in 2006 from African Consolidated Resources (ERS.NX - news) (ACR), a mining venture listed on London's AIM exchange.
The site has since seen horrific violence as local panners were machine-gunned from helicopters or torn apart by attack dogs in a drama with echoes of the film Blood Diamond .
"In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest," said one cable in November (Berlin: NBXB.BE - news) 2008 entitled Regime Elites Looting Deadly Diamond Fields.
Washington keeps a close eye on Marange because of suspicions that diamonds are being sold to Lebanese traders acting for Al Qaeda. Terrorists rely on gems to move money because they are compact, and do not set off metal detectors.
The undocumented diamonds are sold to a mix of foreign buyers, "including Belgians, Israelis, Lebanese, Russians and South Africans who smuggle them out of the country for cutting and resale elsewhere".
"The majority of the diamonds are smuggled to Dubai and sold at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority. The highest quality diamonds are shipped to Belgium, Israel, or South Africa for cutting," said the report.
The cables suggest that the US diplomats give weight to allegations by Zimbabwe sources claiming that central bank chief Gideon Gono ran the operation, paying for gems with freshly printed "Zim (ZIMCF.OB - news) dollars", and reselling them for US dollars.
The trade helps explain why Zimbabwe's central bank had a motive for generating the worst hyperinflation since Hungary in 1946 or Germany under Weimar. The currency disintegrated in early 2009, giving way to US "dollarisation" under the power-sharing deal with premier Morgan Tsvangirai.
The cable relayed claims that Mr Gono ran the operation and pocketed "several hundred thousand dollars a month" before being displaced by Zimbabwe's military. Vice-president Joyce Mujuru allegedly skimmed off similar sums.
The report cited allegations that President Mugabe's wife, Grace, and sister, Sabina, were both profiting from the smuggling. A string of top officials in Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party were named as active participants in the venture.
The violence has been staggering. After one assault by security forces "over 200 bodies turned up at Mutare mortuaries. Many of those bodies arrived with fatal gunshot or dog bite wounds and were tagged "BID Marange" or "brought in dead from Marange".
Some allegations came from tribal leaders in the Mutare region near Mozambique, where Marange is located. One source is a member of the ZANU-PF central committee, who stated that the late Sabina Mugabe "had been profiting from the purchase and sale of [Marange] diamonds". The name of the source is not redacted by Wikileaks, leaving him vulnerable to reprisals.
The reports buttress claims that African Consolidated, which has long alleged that the Mugabe elite seized the property to enrich itself and finance the ZANU-PF machine.
Andrew Cranswick, ACR's chief executive, is identified by name as a source for one cable, giving specific details about specific individuals in the smuggling ring, including a prominent South African.
"It was highly irresponsible for Wikileaks to publish names," he told The Daily Telegraph . "This is extremely dangerous and puts peoples' lives at risk."
Mr Cranswick has other difficulties. He has been declared bankrupt by an Australian court for overdue taxes. The company, which also has phosphates and metals, has been crippled by the Marange dispute. It operates from a modest house in a Harare suburb.
A survey report for De Beers indicated that the Marange fields have a ratio of more than 1,000 carat per hundred tons, eight times higher than peers. One industry expert said it was "the richest diamond field ever seen by several orders of magnitude".
ACR executives first realised its full potential when it the saw local boys using the glassy green-black stones in slings to kill guinea fowl. "We asked one youngster to show us the stones in his pocket and almost all of them were diamonds. That is when we understood," said Mr Cranswick.
The Marange stones - 70pc industrial, and 30pc gems - came to the Earth's crust 1.3m years ago, far earlier than other diamonds. The radiation has changed their appearance, so it takes an expert to spot that they are diamonds.
Tribal chiefs said the diamonds were causing havoc. "The environmental (Berlin: E7G.BE - news) degradation was severe, violence reigned, and the community was not benefiting from the resource. Three quarters of the schools failed to open because teachers and students alike were digging for diamonds," said the cable.
The US embassy said Marange could be a bonanza for battered Zimbabwe, perhaps generating sales of $1.2bn (£760m) a year. Instead it had become a "curse".
The Mugabe regime siezed the Marange fields in 2006 from African Consolidated Resources (ERS.NX - news) (ACR), a mining venture listed on London's AIM exchange.
The site has since seen horrific violence as local panners were machine-gunned from helicopters or torn apart by attack dogs in a drama with echoes of the film Blood Diamond .
"In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest," said one cable in November (Berlin: NBXB.BE - news) 2008 entitled Regime Elites Looting Deadly Diamond Fields.
Washington keeps a close eye on Marange because of suspicions that diamonds are being sold to Lebanese traders acting for Al Qaeda. Terrorists rely on gems to move money because they are compact, and do not set off metal detectors.
The undocumented diamonds are sold to a mix of foreign buyers, "including Belgians, Israelis, Lebanese, Russians and South Africans who smuggle them out of the country for cutting and resale elsewhere".
"The majority of the diamonds are smuggled to Dubai and sold at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority. The highest quality diamonds are shipped to Belgium, Israel, or South Africa for cutting," said the report.
The cables suggest that the US diplomats give weight to allegations by Zimbabwe sources claiming that central bank chief Gideon Gono ran the operation, paying for gems with freshly printed "Zim (ZIMCF.OB - news) dollars", and reselling them for US dollars.
The trade helps explain why Zimbabwe's central bank had a motive for generating the worst hyperinflation since Hungary in 1946 or Germany under Weimar. The currency disintegrated in early 2009, giving way to US "dollarisation" under the power-sharing deal with premier Morgan Tsvangirai.
The cable relayed claims that Mr Gono ran the operation and pocketed "several hundred thousand dollars a month" before being displaced by Zimbabwe's military. Vice-president Joyce Mujuru allegedly skimmed off similar sums.
The report cited allegations that President Mugabe's wife, Grace, and sister, Sabina, were both profiting from the smuggling. A string of top officials in Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party were named as active participants in the venture.
The violence has been staggering. After one assault by security forces "over 200 bodies turned up at Mutare mortuaries. Many of those bodies arrived with fatal gunshot or dog bite wounds and were tagged "BID Marange" or "brought in dead from Marange".
Some allegations came from tribal leaders in the Mutare region near Mozambique, where Marange is located. One source is a member of the ZANU-PF central committee, who stated that the late Sabina Mugabe "had been profiting from the purchase and sale of [Marange] diamonds". The name of the source is not redacted by Wikileaks, leaving him vulnerable to reprisals.
The reports buttress claims that African Consolidated, which has long alleged that the Mugabe elite seized the property to enrich itself and finance the ZANU-PF machine.
Andrew Cranswick, ACR's chief executive, is identified by name as a source for one cable, giving specific details about specific individuals in the smuggling ring, including a prominent South African.
"It was highly irresponsible for Wikileaks to publish names," he told The Daily Telegraph . "This is extremely dangerous and puts peoples' lives at risk."
Mr Cranswick has other difficulties. He has been declared bankrupt by an Australian court for overdue taxes. The company, which also has phosphates and metals, has been crippled by the Marange dispute. It operates from a modest house in a Harare suburb.
A survey report for De Beers indicated that the Marange fields have a ratio of more than 1,000 carat per hundred tons, eight times higher than peers. One industry expert said it was "the richest diamond field ever seen by several orders of magnitude".
ACR executives first realised its full potential when it the saw local boys using the glassy green-black stones in slings to kill guinea fowl. "We asked one youngster to show us the stones in his pocket and almost all of them were diamonds. That is when we understood," said Mr Cranswick.
The Marange stones - 70pc industrial, and 30pc gems - came to the Earth's crust 1.3m years ago, far earlier than other diamonds. The radiation has changed their appearance, so it takes an expert to spot that they are diamonds.
Tribal chiefs said the diamonds were causing havoc. "The environmental (Berlin: E7G.BE - news) degradation was severe, violence reigned, and the community was not benefiting from the resource. Three quarters of the schools failed to open because teachers and students alike were digging for diamonds," said the cable.
The US embassy said Marange could be a bonanza for battered Zimbabwe, perhaps generating sales of $1.2bn (£760m) a year. Instead it had become a "curse".
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