RSS 2.0 FeedFebruary 2010 Vol 5, Mining and Industry Indaba
Mpofu Offices Raided
Harare — Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu's offices in Harare were broken into by unknown people while he was away and police have since launched investigations into the matter reports the Herald.
Harare — Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu's offices in Harare were broken into by unknown people while he was away and police have since launched investigations into the matter.
The minister was on leave when his offices on the seventh floor of the Zimre Centre along Leopold Takawira Street were raided four times.
Reliable sources say the break-ins occurred between January and this month and could be related to an ongoing wrangle over ownership of diamond mining claims in Chiadzwa.
It is reported that the intruders gained entry into Minister Mpofu's office through the ceiling after their initial attempt to break in through a door failed.
Minister Mpofu confirmed the break-ins in an interview with The Herald.
"There were four break-ins by unknown persons into my office when I was on holiday," he said.
Minister Mpofu was on holiday from December 20, 2009 to February 1 this year.
"The motives behind these acts are still not clear. I have reported the matter to the police," Minister Mpofu said.
Sources at Zimre Centre say police with dogs visited the minister's office recently.
He would not state exactly what information he was referring to but the remarks imply important documents could have been removed from his office.
Coincidentally, an armed eight-man gang stormed African Consolidated Resources' premises in Harare early this month and made off with computers and a Nissan Patrol truck.
The robbery occurred at midnight and speculation was that it could have been linked to the transportation of more than 129 000-diamond carats from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
This followed a ruling by the Supreme Court that the diamonds at the centre of an ownership wrangle between ACR and MMCZ be taken to the RBZ for safekeeping.
Of the items stolen during the raid, The Herald is reliably informed that ACR later recovered its vehicle parked outside a hotel in the Avenues area the following day.
Nothing else has yet been recovered.
This is the second time inside two years that unknown intruders have broken into the offices of senior Government officials and made off with important documents.
In 2007, unknown persons broke into then Rural Housing and Social Amenities Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa's offices in Harare and stole his laptop, documents and a mobile phone.
