Masimirembwa keen to give his side of the story

Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
FORMER Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa says he is keen to give his side of the story following remarks by President Mugabe that he was involved in a US$6 million corruption scam. President Mugabe on Tuesday called for zero tolerance to corruption saying the law should to take its course on Mr Masimirembwa for allegedly demanding and receiving a US$6 million bribe from a Ghanaian firm that sought to invest in diamond mining at the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields in Marange.

Mr Masimirembwa is alleged to have demanded a bribe from Gye Nyame, a Ghanaian company that wanted to invest in diamonds in Zimbabwe.

Gye Nyame started operating in Marange in 2011.
Mr Masimirembwa professed innocence, saying he was praying for an opportunity to give his side of the story.

“I respect and love my President and I just hope that I will be given an opportunity to put my side of the story. I am sure the appropriate authorities are investigating the matter and they will allow me to give my side of the story,” he said.

Police chief spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba yesterday said she had not yet received information on the investigations into the case.

“I have not yet received information concerning that case,” she said.
Mr Masimirembwa resigned from the ZMDC board ahead of the July 31 harmonised elections to contest the Mabvuku-Tafara National Assembly seat which he lost to Mr James Maridadi of MDC-T.

Speaking during a luncheon held for Members of Parliament soon after he officially opened the First Session of the Eighth Parliament on Tuesday, President Mugabe said the wrath of the law must take its unimpeded course in the matter as such rot could not be tolerated under his watch.

The President said Mr Masimirembwa and his group demanded money in cash and created a shelf company that took equity in the diamond mining firm under unclear legal circumstances before astonishingly claiming that the Ghanaians had violated some unspecified Zimbabwean law and threatening them with arrest should they set foot in Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe was addressing guests who included Government ministers, Members of Parliament, traditional leaders and senior Government officials at a luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

President Mugabe said when the Ghanaian firm’s officials wanted to bring their equipment into Zimbabwe, they were told not to come back as they would purportedly be arrested.

He said that Gye Nyame had entered into a joint venture with ZMDC where it had 30 percent stake.
But its officials remained outside the country dreading the spectre of arrest threatened by the former ZMDC boss despite assurances given to the Ghanaian firm by Commissioner-General of Police Augustine Chihuri that they would not be arrested as they had not violated any law.

President Mugabe said efforts by the Ghanaians to approach former South African president Thabo Mbeki for help through that country’s central bank did not help matters as Mr Masimirembwa continued warning that the police wanted to arrest them.

The Ghanaians, President Mugabe said, ended up flying all the way to Washington to meet the then Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu (now the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development), who was attending a diamond mining meeting in the US.