We named a portion of the diamond fields zamu ramai Mujuru (Mrs. Joyce
Mujuru’s breast) because on several nights trucks would go there, and we
were told by police that the portion belongs to the vice-president, Mrs.
Mujuru. That portion of land is heavily guarded both by police and by a
private security company, which is owned by another senior ZANU-PF
official.152
Local and international media have reported on the alleged involvement of Zimbabwe’s VicePresident and senior ZANU-PF member Mrs. Mujuru in Marange diamond mining and
smuggling, including on ownership of a claim in the diamond fields popularly known as
churu chamai Mujuru (Mrs. Mujuru’s anthill).153 International media have also reported on
alleged attempts by Mrs. Mujuru’s Spain-based daughter to sell uncertified gold and
diamonds on the international market. The origin of the diamonds in question has never
been publicly revealed.154
As a result of internal conflicts within ZANU-PF and infighting over the control of diamonds,
some senior ZANU-PF officials have been arrested in connection with diamonds smuggling.
For example, a ZANU-PF provincial spokesperson for Harare and senior official within a
government ministry, William Nhara, was arrested at the Harare airport on March 1, 2007,
together with a Lebanese woman, and was charged with attempted bribery and attempting
to smuggle suspected Marange diamonds out of Zimbabwe. The two had in their possession
diamonds weighing a total of 10,700 carats. The Lebanese woman, Ms. Carole Georges El
Martni, was convicted of possession and attempting to smuggle diamonds and was fined
US$84,000 in September 2007. Nhara died while on remand awaiting trial.155
In February 2007 police arrested Mthulisi Dube, the son of a director of a Zimbabwe military
company, Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), for possession of 1,164 pieces of Marange
152
Human Rights Watch interview with local miners J.M., D.Z., H.N., P.M., and H.C., Marange, February 21, 2009.
153
See Robyn Dixon, “Zimbabwe’s deadly diamond fever,” Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2008,
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/04/world/fg-diamonds4 (accessed May 31, 2009).
154
Catherine Philip and Graham Keeley, “Zimbabwe’s vice president foiled in 3,600 kg gold deal,” The Times (UK), February 2,
2009. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5796426.ece (accessed April 26, 2009). See also Grant
Ferret, “Zimbabwe elite seeks to evade sanctions,” BBC News, February 24, 2009,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7907278.stm (accessed April 26, 2009).
155
“Principal Director William Nhara dies,” The Herald (Zimbabwe), May 29, 2007.
Diamonds in the Rough
48
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