Open letter to Dr Lovemore Kurotwi

Dear Esteemed Dr Kurotwi my first port of call is to school you on what an opinion piece is. (Ah! Cry the journalistic profession, no sir !!) Dr Kurotwi sir, an opinion is a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Now that we are clear on what an opinion is did you take time to realise that I wrote an opinion piece and not a news article and by any chance do you know the difference?

Now let's talk about what informed my opinion :

1. When I came to the conclusion that you have beef with Obert Mpofu I quoted these words which came out of your own mouth, assuming you were not under the influence :

"  I have nothing against him really. I think when it comes to some of these issues, the best thing to do is; rather than take any vengeful path, you leave everything to divine equalisation and I think Minister Mpofu will have his own comeuppance with divinity.

As for advice to him:

Minister Mpofu, you can't have what you ain't got and you can never lose what you ain't never had.

There is so much satisfaction with what's yours. Remember, there is always divine equalisation when vadzimu naMwari [ancestral spirits and God] fight for those perceived to be powerless by those who perceive themselves to have power over everybody.

So never take anybody for granted.

Try and respect every human being because they too, like you, are a product of the divine."

Those words basically spell out beef. You can play with words justify yourself as you may want but that right there is a statement from a bitter man who has an axe to grind and hoping the divine will grind it for him.

Dear Esteemed Dr Kurotwi I did enjoy reading your response, thank you for your feedback and for reading my opinion piece, hopefully, you read all of them.

You, however, misdirected yourself into assuming that I shot off my mouth and pen without seeking clarity and comment.

I quoted your words, which you gave in a widely publicised interview and secondly the source of my information on which I formed my opinion was and is court records and reports which are in the public domain.

Now let's talk about Canadile Miners. My opinion is that you over inflate its role in the diamond sector.

You talk of Canadile miners as if it was a one-man band, was it not a Joint Venture between your entity and  ZMDC then under Dominic Mubayiwa's leadership? Was ZMDC not involved in the running of Canadile miners as a part shareholder?

Did your other partners ever exist?

My opinion is that you claim to have been the knight in shining armour of the nation in keeping us in the Kimberly Process.

I will get back to Kimberly process, for now, let us talk Canadile.

I am tempted to ask the question which you were asked by Dr Obert Mpofu which became the bone of contention, did you have the $2 Billion to invest in a diamond mining project? Considering that the $2 billion claims and strength of your other alleged partners among other things formed the basis on which you got the diamond mining licence. If you had the $2 billion did you at any point furnish the government with the proof of these funds or a mere bank comfort letter?

You claim that mining equipment and diamonds disappeared surely you were on the ground, your company had security guards , you had a JV with a government entity if equipment disappeared would it not hurt the government as well , and your staff and security details didn't see anything neither do they know anything about your allegedly missing equipment?


So Dr Mpofu probably found a magic wand and made mining equipment and diamonds disappear? Makes for good reading in a fairy tale or village folklore or Ximex mall boys would put it "masasi epanhamo".

Back to the Kimberly Process

In your learned mind, Dr Kurotwi a mere video saved the day for Zimbabwe? What of Farai Mutamangira's argument and presentations by others? This video was part and parcel of efforts that were coordinated by Dr Obert Mpofu and as the responsible authority or team leader, he takes the glory such is the nature of the beast. It was a  team effort and singling yourself out is a tad bit much of tooting thy own horn.

You accuse me of khaki envelope journalism, those exist in the diamond sector so you would know better. An opinion piece is an opinion piece, my opinion is not paid for either is it solicited. As a free thinking human, I think and believe that you started the Obert Mpofu is corrupt narrative and have not been able to back it up. Even Gushungo couldn't take any action because there was no proof to back your claim.

The tiff has played out openly in the courts of law and we have heard both sides of the argument. FYI Beatrice Mtetwa does throw strong and powerful arguments but the fact remains when it comes to Obert Mpofu you just didn't like how he handled Canadile and you gave him no option but to cancel your deal.

We could argue and throw low blows or so but at the end of the day I am allowed to form an opinion and present it as an opinion

Nicholas Ncube is a researcher and blogger based in Ontario Canada