The Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe are allegedly losing hundred of thousands of US dollars worth every week. That is, if we chose to believe the RBZ Governor, Gideon Gono.

Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has said that the country was losing almost US$200 million a month through illegal diamond dealings.

That is over and above the reported 60000 carats mined each week by the mining authority, ZMDC.

Zimbabwe is unable to account for 1.3 million carats of diamonds mined since 2003.

A single carat can fetch as much anything between US$500 and US$1000 depending on its quality.

With that all in mind, there is a total of some US$ 100 billion worth of diamonds that have slipped through the net. Not that there was a net there to begin with.

We know that the fields have been taken over by the army in ‘an effort to stop the illegal trade of diamonds’, but we are also aware that the fields are being mined by senior members of Mugabe’s administration.

We also know that at night, those that are supposed to protect the fields from illegal miners, are working the fields. As one soldier put it, “Why should a man die of thirst when he is standing in a river?” Or words to that effect.

Now - think along these lines. What could have Mugabe done with US$100 billion to rebuild Zimbabwe’s economy and put the country right? Would he not have been revered in all circles within Zimbabwe as being the man that averted total and absolute collapse within Zimbabwe?

Would he not then be the saviour, the liberator, the hero that his party attempt to sell him as?

Lately there has been much written about the Kimberley Process and the illegal trade of blood diamonds in and from Zimbabwe.

The Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has just completed a three week tour of Western countries where he was endeavouring to raise US$5 billion in aid and assistance to rebuild the infrastructure of Zimbabwe.

Just 5% of the diamonds that have been illegally traded, stolen and unaccounted for, would have financed the deal! And it would have left 95% still for the ZANU PF to pinch…

The MDC have their man running the finance ministry - even though ZANU PF have decided to prefer treason charges against him. Any move that Finance Minsiter Tendai Biti makes in the financial sector is viewed with much suspicion and trepidation by ZANU PF.

Calls for the removal of Gono as RBZ governor have been resisted, and Mugabe himself has blocked an audit of the RBZ accounts.

It concerns me that if the Marange fields are producing such huge numbers of carats, then where has the money gone? How come the country (and ZANU PF) is still broke?

Mugabe has now decided to send his own delegation to the East to procure much-needed mony - but he publicly stated that any money so obtained would be for the rebuilding of ZANU PF. Nothing like spending the tax payers’ money on party politics…

It should be recognised that ZANU PF are not just penny-pinching criminals, but the ringleaders of the illegal diamond trade in Zimbabwe are senior members of the Mugabe administration. And it isn’t like they haven’t had any practice either - just look at how they fleeced the DRC during their civil war there.

Money is what counts for Mugabe - and diamonds are his best friend.

Robb WJ Ellis The Bearded Man