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Gold Mafia: Mnangagwa’s ‘cornered’ allies speak

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

Two of President emmerson mnangagwa’s associates, who were secretly recorded by international news network

Al Jazeera allegedly offering to help criminals around the world launder billions of dollars and to smuggle gold from Zimbabwe, have finally broken their silence.

The Qatar-based news network early this month started airing the Gold Mafia, a four partseries by Al Jazeera’s investigative Unit (i-Unit) that it said was based on “dozens of undercover operations spanning three continents and thousands of documents showing how government and business people are profiting off the illegal movement of gold across borders.” an episode on Zimbabwe titled Gold Mafia:

The Laundry Service started showing last Thursday and featured mnangagwa's ambassador-atlarge, Uebert mudzanire, alias Uebert angel, and Henrietta Rushwaya (pictured), who is said to be the president’s niece.

Angel and Rushwaya allegedly offered to help the Al Jazeera undercover journalists to move dirty money into Zimbabwe for cleaning with the alleged help of institutions such as the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe.

Both spoke for the first time about the scandal and they were at pains to exonerate themselves while alleging that there were people with political interests that were scheming against them.

Angel issued a long-winding statement while Rushwaya spoke exclusively to The Standard about the fiasco.

Rushwaya, who is the president of the Zimbabwe miners Federation (ZmF), distanced herself from an audio that has been circulating on social media where a person purporting to be her insulted Zimbabweans for believing the “propaganda”.

“That’s not me, Henrietta Rushwaya. i have a broadcasting voice,” she told The Standard.

“I am sure you can clearly tell the difference between the voice doing rounds on social media and this particular voice.

“I am a small-scale miner who is attending to my business and for me to find myself involved in all this nonsense would be a sheer waste of time.

“According to the ZmF constitution i am expected to be apolitical.

“So, not on any single day would you expect to hear me coming up with such a voice note.”

Rushwaya, who was arrested in October 2020 for allegedly trying to smuggle gold out of the country, said she was a hardworking woman with no time for bickering.

“we are hard workers and a peace-loving nation,” she said.

“Let’s not be hoodwinked by those who have ulterior motives, who at the end of the day make us waste most of our time bickering, fighting and losing focus on the core agenda of what our visionary president wants us to achieve.”

She refused to comment on the documentary saying “Let’s wait till part four. Then i can comment.”

Angel, the main actor in the first installment of the Al Jazeera documentary, said he had his own money and cannot be seen being involved in underworld gold smuggling.

“They (Al Jazeera team posing as investors) kept pushing to have the first family in the discussion, especially the first lady (auxillia) and the president,” angel said through his europe chief investment officer Sobona mtisi.

“They even threw in figures to help in the charity organisation which ambassador angel refused and even told them he had his own money: this part was omitted from the documentary.

“The best these people got are the audios from decoys; they never got the chance to film the president or the first lady because the ambassador was already informed by the security agents prior to getting into the meeting that they didn’t have the money they claimed to have.”

On Friday, self-styled prophet Passion Java, who is close to angel, said those implicated in the documentary would never be arrested as they were untouchables.

“what are you going to do (next)?,” he mocked Zimbabweans on a Facebook live post claiming that Al Jazeera was a campaign gimmick by the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

“That’s why you are told to support the ruling party because we are the army, we are the police, we are the court and we are the prison. “So what are you going to do?”

Java has been seen in the company of mnangagwa on several occasions.

Zimbabwe anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) spokesperson, Thandiwe mlobane said the commission would only act if an official complaint as lodged.

“We investigate all cases reported to Zacc without any fear or favour,” she said.

“With regards to the documentary we are following like everybody else because this is just part one.”

Police spokesperson assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi refused to comment.

Analysts yesterday said officials implicated in the scandal must resign.

“So there are no resignations we should expect from the government? we don’t need explanations,” said Farai maguwu, the director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), a leading organisation working on improved governance of natural resources.

In a 35-page report released last year titled Zimbabwe’s Disappearing Gold: The Case of Mazowe and Penhalonga, CNRG said the country was losing at least three tonnes of gold, valued at approximately US$157 million every month, around US$1,9 billion per year to smuggling.

“what people like Passion Java are saying is meant to test the national mood,” maguwu said.

“What would people say? it’s to douse the flames of the public,

“The country has been captured by criminal elements, which are prejudicing the country of billions of dollars.”

Political analyst Kudakwashe munemo said the government's silence showed that state actors at the highest level were complicit in the dealings.

“Probably they are strategising on a uniform response, but the silence simply confirms what many political activists and journalists among others, have been saying for a very long time; the state is complicit in these dealings hiding behind the banner of busting sanctions yet this is for the benefit of the very few political and capital elites at the expense of socio-economic development,” munemo said.

The government last year said Zimbabwe was losing gold worth hundreds of millions of US dollars to smuggling.

In 2020, the international Crisis Group said gold worth US$1.5 billion was smuggled annually from Zimbabwe to Dubai.

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2023-03-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://alphamedia.pressreader.com/article/281517935371780

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