Minister queried over ‘missing’ $100m

By Farayi Machamire

Mines minister Walter Chidakwa was taken to task in Parliament on Wednesday over a “missing” $100 million loan that President Robert Mugabe said had been given to small scale miners.

After being asked by MDC MP for Musikavanhu Prosper Mutseyami to shed more light on the matter, Chidakwa requested for more time.

“Previously in this House, I asked a question to minister Chidakwa . . . the issue was that His Excellency came and gave a statement to say that the small scale miners were given a loan of $100 million that (he claimed) has improved gold production in this nation.

“But the $100 million was never given to small scale miners, which means His Excellency was given false information to say that there was a loan that was advanced to small scale miners,” Mutseyami said.

“We asked the minister to explain to us who gave the president false information and enlighten us but he promised that he would look into it.”

Mutseyami expressed disappointment that the minister “promised to go and look into it and find out who would give such false information to the President”.

“The minister has not responded to this issue from the day that I asked this question,” Mutseyami said.

Acting Speaker, Mabel Chinomona, called Chidakwa to give his position and he curtly said: “That is work in progress, I will advise Parliament.” Daily News