THE Daniel Shumba-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines yesterday recommended that the Civil Service Commission recalls Mines secretary Francis Gudyanga for his alleged abuse of the country’s diamond revenue.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
In a report issued on the consolidation of diamond companies, Shumba also said Gudyanga should be charged with contempt of Parliament for refusing to avail polygraph test results of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) managers when the committee requested them.
“The grounds for dismissal include his role in aiding illicit financial outflows, poor corporate governance and at times his position has been conflicted,” the report said.
The committee recommended that Gudyanga be fired within a month.
It said Gudyanga sat in a one-man board at the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), and was allegedly acting in a nepotistic manner as all, save for one, ZCDC board members were from his home area in Manicaland.
Gudyanga is also implicated in the abuse of $4 million, which MMCZ was instructed to pay to Pedstock, an agricultural company, in illicit financial outflows from the extractive sector.
“Gudyanga admitted to the committee that the money was sent to a known recipient, who is a foreigner and his identity could not be disclosed because it would jeopardise the State security operations aimed at curbing leakages and smuggling of minerals. Pedistock received a commission for its services,” the committee said.
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In 2015, Gudyanga reportedly paid himself $35 000 as board fees in violation of the MMCZ Act and corporate governance principles.
Another company engaged by Gudyanga, First Element, in auctioning diamonds was allegedly inflating costs.
Gudyanga also reportedly handpicked an audit firm to scrutinise MMCZ books, compromising the company’s financial records.
The committee noted that depletion of alluvial diamonds in Marange, with production going down from 25 to 40 carats per tonne in 2011 to the current five to six carats per tonne.
Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent) said Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa must also resign for failing to superintend over his ministry.
“What we had was a mafia project of people looting State resources and making money so that they bribe people in the process. Chidhakwa must resign because he has failed to superintend over his ministry,” Mliswa said.
