Zivai Community Empowerment Trust (ZICET) has been in the past following the arrest of local and foreign players in the gold trade industry in Zimbabwe. Recent reports from across the border, Limpopo, states that a Zimbabwean man was arrested at O.R Tambo International Airport in South Africa trying to smuggle 23 pieces of gold. It is disheartening for Zimbabwean citizens when the country is losing domestic revenue to smuggling when resource rich communities are failing to access basic service delivery and sustainable economic benefits.
Corruption and gold smuggling among other issues have crippled the country’s efforts to leverage on its vast mineral resources to deliver basic services such as education, health and clean water. For the record it is believed that gold smuggling in Zimbabwe is done through well-organized syndicates. It is the government’s prerogative to curb these illegal acts. Our government is losing revenue through illicit financial flows (IFFs) hence the US 12billion mining economy vision by 2023 becomes unachievable.
IFFs in the mining sector are hampering socio-economic development hence there is a serious need of the Government to act responsibly. As a community organization which is deeply rooted where gold is being extracted, we seriously condemn the resource leakages. We therefore call upon the government to demonstrate commitment to transparency and accountability in gold mining. We call upon the government to develop a Gold Trade Policy that provides policy direction on marketing of gold including creating scope for responsible gold production and sourcing systems. Fidelity Printers and Refiners should review their gold prices in line with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) for competitive pricing.
Source: Zivai Community Empowerment Trust
