Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government said local authorities must ensure that diamonds and other natural resources are sold to the government to help it earn foreign currency, according to reports. %% Addressing a large gathering of rural district councillors, the country’s vice president, Joice Mujuru, said it was “the duty of councils as the lower arms of government to ensure diamonds found in Chiadzwa, Marange are sold directly to the state.” %% She said the government failed to earn any foreign currency when minerals are sold to foreign buyers. “Let us not put the diamonds to waste. Those who are exporting the diamonds are enriching other nations,” she added. %% The money from foreign revenue will be used to purchase fuel, tractors and medicines, build roads, clinics and schools, Mujuru said. “The diamonds should benefit the Zimbabwean economy. They should be sold to government,” she stated. %% Last month Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, 83, said that only the government would be allowed to mine diamonds after news of a discovery sent thousands rushing to the Marange deposit. The Marange mine licence which was held by the British miner African Consolidated Resources was later revoked and awarded to a state-run mining firm. %% Since November 2006 the country has arrested around 28,000 people for illegal prospecting of gold and diamonds. Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate stands at 80 per cent and its annual inflation rate is around 1,700 per cent.