As the citizens of Zimbabwe reel under hardships in a distressed economy engulfed with high unemployment, inflation, poverty and poor service delivery, the residents of Penhalonga are disturbed by organised gold leakages that continue to occur in the mining sector. A significant amount of revenues from gold and other precious minerals are not finding way into the Reserve Bank because of excessive looting with culprits being condoned and not brought to book. As a result of this malpractice, the executive is losing people’s expectations on servant leadership.
What is unique in Zimbabwe is unaccountability. Recently a Zimbabwean was caught at O R Tambo International airport with 23 pieces of gold worth R 11 million. This comes after another smuggler, Henrietta Rushwaya was apprehended at Robert Mugabe International Airport with 6kgs of gold worth US$400 000. Penhalonga residents mourn the corruption bedeviling the management of their natural resources. Systematic corruption has robbed them of better service delivery and sustainable development. As residents of Penhalonga we demand that; Ministry of Mines take control of gold production and marketing in the country. President Mnangagwa must deal with corruption in the gold mining value chain and engage international institutions to stop gold smuggling to Dubai and other international destinations. Government must implement devolution to enable communities to monitor their mineral resources.
Meanwhile, government must stipulate a competitive pricing regime for Fidelity to curb black market flourishing.
Source: Penhalonga Residents and Ratepayers Trust (PRRT)
