ZIMBABWE has reportedly lost between 30 and 34 tonnes of gold which was smuggled to South Africa last year in a new wave of illicit financial flows (IFFs) that are affecting the country, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) has said.
In a recent report on IFFs, Zimcodd said the bulk of
capital flight currently affecting Zimbabwe was happening in the gold mining
sector.
The revelations also come at a time suspended Zimbabwe
Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya is in custody following her
arrest last week at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on charges
of attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold to Dubai.
Zimcodd said a recent study by the African Forum and
Network on Debt and Development estimated that between the period of 2009 and
2013, Zimbabwe also lost US$2,83 billion through IFFs, which translates to an
annual average of US$570,75 million.
It said this was the number one cause for the country’s
loss of money, which has led to underdevelopment.
“Of the cumulative outflows, 97,88% of US$6 billion IFFs
were in the mining sector. In 2019, the Minister of Finance and Economic
Development (Mthuli Ncube) is quoted to have said that Zimbabwe may have lost
between 30 tonnes and 34 tonnes of gold to smuggling in the neighbouring South
Africa,” Zimcodd said.
“During this week, both mainstream and social media
platforms were awash with stories of the arrest of Rushwaya at Robert Gabriel
Mugabe International Airport while trying to smuggle 6kg of gold to Dubai in
contravention of section 182 of the Customs and Excise Act, which sets out
penalties for any person found smuggling goods into or outside the country.
“The attempt by Rushwaya to smuggle gold with an estimated
worth of US$333 000 is only a microcosm of the macrocosm of the huge sums of
gold and other precious minerals smuggled out of the country. If the figure is
anything to go by, if sold officially, the amount from the gold would go a long
way in covering the financial gap existing in the public service delivery
sector.”
The debt watchdog said government must now consider an
upward review of the foreign currency retention threshold in the gold sector to
motivate gold producers to sell their gold through the formal market in order
to curb gold leakages.
“Lack of political will and political interference in the
operations of the anti-corruption institutions undermines the effectiveness of
institutions and legislation responsible for combating illicit financial flows.
There is need for the government to demonstrate political will to arrest and
prosecute perpetrators and guarantee the independence of the responsible
institutions,” Zimcodd said, adding that government should invest in
information communication technologies to curb under declarations of minerals.
Newsday
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