From BBC. Story by Stanley Kwenda.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused foreign mining companies of stealing the country’s wealth, after an announcement that the government will take control of all diamond mines.

Mugabe accused the companies of “swindling” and “smuggling” in an interview with state-run ZBC TV.

The 92-year-old leader denied that the move would affect relations with China, a major investor in the sector.

Zimbabwe was the world’s eighth largest diamond exporter in 2014.

“We have not received much from the diamond industry at all,” Mugabe said, complaining that Zimbabwe had received $2 billion from an estimated $15 billion in revenue.

Mugabe was also critical of Zimbabweans’ role in the alleged theft, saying that those “expected to be our eyes and ears have not been able to see or hear what was going on.”

Foreign mining companies can only operate in Zimbabwe as part of a joint-venture with local partners.

In 2008, the army was accused of a massacre against artisinal miners at the Marange diamond fields. Companies operating in Marange did so as partners to the Zimbabwean government, which carried a 50 percent stake in each of them.

The government has long appeared to be in control of operations at Marange, making it harder to explain how such “theft” could have happened without its knowledge.

Critics will see this announcement as a smokescreen for the government’s failure to meet critical financial obligations such as paying civil servants’ salaries.

Reports of abuse and killings by the army led to an international ban on diamond exports from Marange between 2009 and 2011.

Read more at BBC.