Opposition parties and student unions say it is incredulous that President Robert Mugabe was unaware that the nation was losing billions of dollars worth of diamonds through looting of diamonds.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA/GARIKAI TUNHIRA
They said if $15 billion worth of diamonds were pillaged under Mugabe’s watch, then he should be impeached for failing to do his job.
MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Mugabe should not have headlined his 92nd birthday with a “message of shame” that as President, he did not know what was happening in his own country until it was too late.
“The national tragedy is when $15 billion worth of Marange diamonds disappears and country’s CEO [President] says he doesn’t know what happened. When a country’s President fails to account for $15 billion belonging to the State, he deserves to be impeached,” he said.
People’s Democratic Party spokesperson, Jacob Mafume said Mugabe was being insincere in his pronouncements because even after discovering the alleged looting, he failed to act.
“He is scapegoating and is never sincere at all. How much has he cost this country himself in air travel and birthdays? They are trying to find an excuse to continue their crusade against party members, who have challenged his authority, but they know where the money is,” he said.
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MDC spokesperson, Kurauone Chihwayi said it was shocking that Mugabe had failed to resign or, at the least, sack law enforcement bosses for presiding over non-effective security measures “We have known that Mugabe only acts when his hold onto power is threatened, but to let the economy lose $15 billion worth of revenue should have jolted even the naive into resignation or action. At the very least, we expected Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to be fired,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Nationals Students’ Union (Zinasu) also fired a salvo at the 92-year-old leader, saying today’s bad decisions were “an automatic liability to our future as students and young people of Zimbabwe”.
They queried why Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa would commit “a large chunk of our budget to the security sector when they are failing to guard against these thefts”.
Social media has been awash with comments from ordinary Zimbabweans, questioning Mugabe’s “business-as-usual” approach to the alleged looting of $15 billion worth of diamonds.
