By Trymore Sibanda
LAST week, Zimbabwe’s social media streets and some cynical media outlets were “awash with frenzied claims that there is grand collusion between Treasury officials and a few individuals, including Pedzai Sakupwanya, to plunder state coffers” following the leak of a US$4,2 million payment letter to Better Brands.
While one of the greatest tragedies to hit the republic — at a very alarming rate — is the culture of disinformation and twisted trolls thriving on peddling damaging leaks of confidential, but incomplete, information, in our country, this latest incident fulfils a long list of treacherous and deceitful actions, including the RenForm-Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Agrifora consultancy, so-called Valley Seeds debacle and many others mainly targeting Mthuli Ncube’s office, and which are all targeted or aimed at returning Harare to the Financial Action Task Force’s radar.
And based on my modest knowledge, and understanding of the gold trading sector in Zimbabwe, please allow me to share and explain a few issues around how this key foreign currency earner, and how it works — and as a way of helping several misconceptions in our midst, and facilitate a better understanding of this mystical industry.
For starters, we MUST all be clear that Zimbabwe’s gold incentive scheme (GIS) is an “official government policy” — pioneered by ex-Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya and others — to plug bullion leakages to South Africa (SA), Dubai and other global destinations.
And too, the proponents of this self-serving “theft and Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) heist theory”, and narrative are hellbent on continuing to besmirch President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, key officials such as Treasury secretary George Guvamatanga and others. In short, they NEVER wanna see anything good coming out of this country, as they prefer a “slash and burn” strategy or approach to issues or governance.
As we try to unpack some of the things around GIS, inner workings of the gold sector through verifiable facts and in the hope of enriching national discourse, it is not only crucial to note that the administration of this FIVE percent bonus has moved from the central bank — in order to avoid burdening it with debts – to the Finance ministry, but the key policy decision has benefitted various stakeholders or parties, including agents, junior miners, value chain operators and the economy at large.
With the incentive initially serving those delivering 20 kilogrammes of gold to FGR and meaning only big hitters such as Better Brands, Kamlesh Pattni’s Skorous Investments and the Macmillan family-owned Belhara, this prompted the government to expand it to folks delivering even 500 grammes, as a way of encouraging the “formalisation of one million-plus small-scale and artisanal miners, building Zimbabwe’s reserves to also shore up the local currency and boost yellow metal deliveries to the formal market or channels.
As such, Guvamatanga would have no choice but to operationalise this scheme in line with this new operational arrangement, his duties, coming up with measures to take our counter the unscrupulous middlemen and smugglers as well as actioning a legally binding, and state-sanctioned arrangement such as paying Better Brands — and not what these social media bozos, ignoramuses, and boneheads are saying.
“Whether it was the Treasury secretary or anyone else, they were compelled to sign that letter and as a way of operationalising this policy,” blogger Dereck Goto said.
“To vilify a public servant for fulfilling legal… obligations is not only misinformed, but entirely unjustified,” he said.
And it is such a good policy as GIS, and general empowerment tool — which is open to everybody by the way — that the likes of Sakupwanya, and his outfit have taken advantage of to improve their lot by delivering up to 60 tonnes, which translates to US$6 billion over the past four years.
As the country’s biggest gold supplier — at US$300 million plus per month — would it be surprising for Better Brands to be “paid that much money or incentive” and would it really matter which entity it chooses or elects to use?
And as TWO of your regular columnists or contributors Forward Madyira, and Togaraseyi Nyika always say, Zimbabwe is not only in the THROES of a serious misinformation campaign, disturbing self-loathing culture and damaging leaks, but would the Finance ministry officials or bureaucrats who penned the controversial letter be so “stupid and brazen to facilitate an exchequer raid without verifying Sakupwanya’s contributions” in 2025, and where social media and potential comebacks are rife, and a menace?
But in line with the decadesold “sad reality of life and crooked NAILS analogy” — where straight ones or those trying for national progress are always on the RECEIVING END of unrelenting hammers — it is not surprising why Guvamatanga, the Mabvuku-Tafara legislator and others are always under the cosh from even people who are supposed to know better — scribes!
Sibanda is a gold mining sector worker and consultant.