FORMER President Robert Mugabe has been spared
parliamentary grilling today over the multi-billion-dollar corruption in the
diamond industry after the hearing was postponed indefinitely.
“The committee had already resolved to invite the former
President to give evidence. It is the Clerk of Parliament who will write to him
(Mugabe) to come to Parliament,” a member of the Mines and Energy Committee,
who declined to be named, said.
Legislators had wanted to question Mugabe over his 2016
claim that the country lost $15 billion due to corruption and foreign
exploitation in the diamond sector.
The committee has already interviewed former ministers,
police and intelligence chiefs to answer on diamond mining operations at the
vast Chiadzwa gem fields.
Zimbabwe discovered alluvial diamonds in Chiadzwa, in the
east of the country, over 10 years ago, and rights groups have accused security
forces of using brutal methods to control the scattered deposits.
Rights groups say over 200 people were killed during
operations to remove illegal panners from the area.
Amid allegations of massive looting, Zimbabwe allowed
several diamond companies to mine the area — most of them as joint ventures
between the government and Chinese firms. Newsday
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