Charges against Zim NGO Maguwu Dropped a Week before KP Meeting

Maguwu's release was demanded by NGOs at the KP meeting this summer

(IDEX Online News) - In what could be understood as a political decision aimed at easing international pressure, charges against Zimbabwe NGO activist Farai Maguwu were dropped on Thursday. Maguwu handed an internal government report to the Kimberley Process and was subsequently arrested on charges of falsifying the document.

The charges were dropped after the prosecution said it decided to not pursue the matter further.

Maguwu met with the KP Monitor Abbey Chikane in Herrera on May 25 and gave him a document that, according to Chikane’s fact finding mission report, “was acquired fraudulently from the files of Zimbabwe Republic Police.” Later in the report, Chikane described the document as “Top Secret.”

Two days later the house and offices of Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), were raided by Zimbabwean police.

He spent more than four weeks under arrest after he turned himself in, only to be released on bail days before a World Diamond Council (WDC) meeting was to discuss, among other, the fate of Zimbabwe’s diamond exports from the Marange area.

At the meeting, Zimbabwe was allowed two diamond exports and a KP review mission was sent to check if the country meets KP standards.

The KP is scheduled to hold its Plenary Meeting November 1–4 and discuss Zimbabwe’s exports again. While the review mission report may not be presented at the meeting, the cash starved Zimbabwe is pushing to get the green light for diamond exports.

The WDC welcomed the decision to dismiss charges against Maguwu. “This is excellent news," said WDC President Eli Izhakoff. "The case against Mr. Maguwu had cast a shadow over negotiations between the Zimbabwe government and the Kimberley Process for more than half a year.”

Izhakoff said he is confident the release will contribute positively to the atmosphere at the KP meeting in Jerusalem.