Mugabe says no to raw mineral exports

Harare — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe vowed Saturday to use mining earnings to help the poor, and called on Zimbabweans to form their own companies to benefit from the forced sell-off of foreign-owned firms.

Closing his party's annual conference in the farming town of Chinhoyi, the veteran president told Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa to present a pro-poor budget next week.

"Find money Chinamasa," he said to loud applause from thousands of supporters. "You can't say there is no money. Where is our platinum going? Where is our gold going? Where are our diamonds going?
"The budget must tell a new story. Those who work must be paid above the poverty datum line. We can't really be at peace with our hearts if we say our people must continue to work for next to nothing."

At the conference Mugabe also reiterated his call to ban raw mineral exports as part of tougher measures for the mining sector.

"We should not continue to send our minerals out in their raw form," Mugabe told delegates at the meeting in the farming town of Chinhoyi, north-west of the capital.

He singled out Zimplats, a subsidiary of platinum-mining multinational Implats, for "externalising" raw ore.

"Zimplats has been exporting platinum but we have very little by way of earnings. We don't know where the money is going. We must have our money back."

He said the government was considering slashing by half the number of miners in the eastern diamond minefields.

"We should be looking at the possibility of rationalising the mining of diamonds," he said. "We have six companies mining diamonds, but of these six only three are really worthy talking about. We would also want greater transparency."

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