Our report last week focussing on the pillage of Penhalonga’s goldfields narrated how corrupt government top dogs were inflaming episodes of looting, and uncovered grave consequences of shocking levels of unaccountability at the nearby Mutare Bridge.
We take exception to the fact that the Penhalonga resource is being salted away in a country with a full administration and functioning pillars of the state, including the police and the security system.
Surely, why should our taxes be expended on pampering a force that looks sideways when our birth right is in danger?
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration may dismiss an investigation by the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) — which we analysed — as the work of a western funded NGO trying to push advanced countries’ regime change agenda in Zimbabwe.
But the information contained in CRD’s report, which is titled “Is the Government Shielding Criminal Mining Syndicates from Accountability in Penhalonga?” would trigger the curiosity of serious administrations, which understand the mandate to protect national endowments.
For instance, CRD indicated that some State agencies said they were unable to combat rampant looting in Penhalonga because pressures were being brought to bear by ‘directives from higher authorities’ not to temper with companies at the centre of deadly illicit trade in gold.
We report today that one such politically connected illicit trader could be salting away US$600 000 worth of bullion weekly from Penhalonga’s gold claims — the latest place to relapse into a flashpoint for theft by protected barons.
This translates to about US$35 million annually by one company alone, when calculated at this week’s price of about US$83 100 per kilogramme in some markets.
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It is a “cat and mouse game” estimated to have cost the eastern district over US$554 million during a period spanning four years, according to CRD.
CRD’s paper only looked at a small fraction of Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling hotspots, where a combined US$1,8 billion is being spirited away annually, according to estimates.
As CRD says, the disturbing resource curse has flourished through back-up from corrupt moles in strategic government agencies acting as spies for “notorious” cartels.
Planned raids to fish out smuggling kingpins have flopped along the decimated Mutare River, for instance, because looters are being tipped off to flee by these moles, who possibly receive hefty kickbacks.
The depth of decay permeating public administration is inflicting fresh pain to ordinary citizens, whose gold has been used to indulge the whims of political elite while everyone struggles to access basic services.
Surely, this is unacceptable.
In Penhalonga’s case, corruption is taking place in broad day light — and muscle flexing political elites and their cronies are also involved.
Government’s silence during this period of brazen self-enrichment schemes at Penhalonga defies logic.
Someone must be held accountable.
I am persuaded to conclude that those turning our goldfields upside down have the blessings of shameless elites promising them protection from arrest and prosecution.
This is why Penhalonga is fast turning into another version of Chiadzwa, where the plunder of diamonds over a decade ago ended in shocking human rights abuses, and the vanishing of US$14 billion.
History has shown that regions endowed with bountiful resources easily turn into hotspots for crimes and bloodshed if order is not brought in time.
Chiadzwa is itself a strong reminder of what happens when governments sleep behind the wheel. There are many such examples across Africa. Government must not wait for the situation to degenerate before bringing order.
We want order now.
Order will give us control of our gold, and order will bring taxes and requisite fees to our government. However, this is not a licence to butcher people.
Disorder perpetuates poverty and anarchy.
