Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) How Obert Mpofu tamed America

How Obert Mpofu tamed America
16/11/2011 00:00:00
by Tafadzwa Msarara

“Mr Chairman, what we have here in this debate over certification of Marange diamond fields is a fight pitting an elephant and an ant. Not only do we have the elephant willing to trample on the ant alone but goes to call other elephants namely the EU, Canada and their western allies. Guess what Mr Chairman, facts are stubborn. In this instance, facts are in our favour because the two mines are compliant as declared by the joint working group on monitoring which was set up and established with knowledge and consent of the USA.”

Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme at the Jerusalem Plenary

It is fashionable and award-winning in third world countries to pen documents viciously attacking government leaders and their policies. Behold, credit must be given where it is due.

Obert Mpofu was assigned by his boss, President Mugabe, to carry the most difficult task in the history of the Kimberly Process of seeking certification of diamond mines located in the most potent area in the world, where a western declared “rogue” government is superintending their disposal.

What is striking the most is that Mpofu achieved that in three years despite being himself slapped with a travel ban by some of the KP’s most influential countries including the USA. It is common knowledge that the USA is the United Nations and vice versa. This unfortunate trend is quickly creeping into KP.

Mpofu’s biggest ammunition he had on his side was a hard working team comprising of the Attorney General Johannes Tomana, legal advisor Farai Mutamangira and his senior ministry officials. The three opponents to the certification led by the USA played all tricks in order to frustrate the Zimbabwe bid. At one time in the morning, the USA legal team promised Tomana and Mutamangira that they meet in 10 minutes to “finalise on the Marange outstanding issues”.

The USA team came back to the hall at 11PM and found Mpofu and his team ready and waiting. Of course the plan was to meet the Zimbabweans when they are drained and desperate.

I feared these tough negotiations were going to take a toll on Mpofu’s health given his age and weight, but the man was wide awake and alert all the times. These westerners are deadly in mind warfare, but in Cde Obert Mpofu, they met their match.

I also remember in Jerusalem, the KPCS chairman suggested that the Zimbabwe team meet the three opposing members together with their civil society so that they “iron out differences” and obtain consensus. The USA, the EU and Canada were leveraging on a KPCS consensus rule that dictates that all decisions get the agreement of all participating members. No decision will be made in KP even if the contending participant is being unreasonable.

During the heated meeting, and it became apparent that consensus was not forthcoming; Mpofu switched on Farai Mutamangira’s microphone and then came the young firebrand lawyer.

“It seems that putting us in a room with the USA is like having Israel and Iran locked in one room and hope consensus will be reached. We have a bully who continues to flout international law in an attempt to punish the President of Zimbabwe and his ministers at every turn and twist. This plenary is no exception,” Mutamangira said.

The whole room fell into deafening silence and I knew Mpofu had planned that in order to demonstrate to other mediating participants the extent of the hostile relations between Zimbabwe and the USA. The support for Zimbabwe by African countries grew and surprise, surprise, we saw Sierra Leone warming up to Zimbabwe’s cause. That’s shrewdness!

During the Kinshasa plenary, Susan Page walked in with a host of USA Central Intelligence Agents (CIA) in tow masquerading as diamond experts. This time around, the USA was blowing hot and cold because we had other officials who were making diplomatic overtures like the second in charge at the USA embassy in Harare, and the rest were shouting hoarse at the “human rights violations” in Marange. I could see my brother Shamiso Mtisi of NANGO very relaxed and cosy in the midst of this USA delegation in a typical baas boy fashion.

When time for closed group meetings came, the three musketeers together with their civil society partners were ready to pounce on Mpofu with new charges of human rights violation – which included a claim that an Air Force of Zimbabwe gunship killed hundreds of illegal panners a week before President Mugabe’ visit to the area.

Mpofu pulled a stunt. He sent the South African representative with a message to the sub-group chairman that he will not be coming to discuss Marange because the two mines were now KPCS compliant. Any other issues must be discussed as work in progress and not as a pre-condition of certifying the two mines. I could see dejection on the plotters’ faces because the plot could not be concluded in the absence of Zimbabwe’s Minister.

A representative of one of the USA’s allies, the United Arab Emirates, said: “I came to Kinshasa hoping that we will conclude this Marange issue at last. My country is in possession of Marange diamonds intercepted by security agents in our country enroute to India. We have sought legal advice on the matter from one of the world top lawyers. They have told us that our discussion to seize the parcel is defective at law and we are working towards complying with that legal opinion. Please can we have this matter off our back.”

The cat was out of the bag!

It is the convincing arguments advanced by Mpofu that made other African countries realise that what is happening to Zimbabwe can befall them in the future. This led to the formation of the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) because African participants claimed that they produce 70% of the world diamond but continue to be treated as junior members. Therefore, they needed to unite and up the game.

The victory on the certification of Mbada and Marange must not be confined to the two mines but to all future KPCS certification where Zimbabwean black capital is involved. Whilst every Zimbabwean is entitled to demand the full account of Marange Diamonds receipts, we should be mindful of other wholly-owned foreign mining ventures across Zimbabwe that are yet to give account of their wealth.

Yes, indeed the diamond must benefit everyone in Zimbabwe and it is the collective right and responsibility of Zimbabweans to dispose their own resources as enshrined in the UN Charter. However, it is refreshing to win the fight against external forces that were bent on denying us our privilege to export.

“For answering to a call to be part of a revolution that frees fellow countrymen socially and economically, you are a true hero. But for defending the virtues of the revolution after attaining victory, you are a super hero,” said Che Guevara.
Tafadzwa Musarara is the Chairman of Africa Economic Development Strategies. You may contact him on chairman@aeds.org

Labels: FARAI MUTAMANGIRA, JOHANNES TOMANA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, NEOCOLONIALISM, OBERT MPOFU

posted by MrK @ 10:14 PM