Ubuntu Times

Namibia Lithium Battle

Vitalio Angula

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October 20, 2023

On June 27, 2023, a judge of the High Court of Namibia, Ramon Maasdorp, ruled that the Southern African country’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, did not have the authority to revoke a twenty-year lithium mining license the ministry had issued to Chinese-owned lithium prospecting, exploration, mining, and processing company Xinfeng Investment.

The company drew international attention when the country’s local daily, the Namibian Newspaper, published an expose revealing underhanded dealings between government officials and the Chinese mining outfit.

The report detailed corruption at the ministry of mines in regard to how the company acquired the mining license, misrepresentation regarding how it conducted its business, and a community push-back against environmental damage and displacement of small-scale miners in the mountainous Erongo region, an area renowned for its rich mineral endowment that includes tin, tantalum, fluorite, and the new kid on the block, lithium.

Lithium as a critical component in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles and solar panels to facilitate the green (clean) energy transition has aroused international interest with Namibia sitting on millions of tons of lithium ore, according to a study conducted by the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in collaboration with the German Cooperation (GIZ) and Geological Service of Namibia within Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. GIZ is one of Namibia’s most notable development partners.

At an estimated 9.3 million tons, Chile is said to have the largest lithium deposits in the world. Australia is the globe’s largest supplier.

On the African continent, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Mali, Namibia, and Zimbabwe hold the largest lithium deposits, according to the British Geological Survey Report of 2020/2021, with mines producing millions in tons of the mineral output in all five countries.

China is the world’s largest importer of lithium ore, and the Asian giant controls over half of the world’s lithium processing and refining capacity.

Although the country has lithium deposits of its own, it does not have the required deposits to fulfill its industrial needs. This makes countries like Namibia essential to meeting local demand.

Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of central Namibia. — Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of the Erongo Region of Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Towards the end of 2022, a major political storm erupted in Namibia. Namibian authorities stopped tipper trucks carrying lithium ore that were traveling towards the harbor town of Walvis Bay because they lacked the necessary export or transport permits.

Increased attention to the company’s dealings led to allegations of bribery regarding the way the company acquired mining rights in the first place. A local businessman laid charges of fraud against his business partners, whom he accused of fraudulently stealing his mining claims by forging signatures while he was recuperating from injuries sustained in a car accident. He said his claims were subsequently sold to Xinfeng for USD 2.77 million.

The Minister of Mines and Energy then instituted investigations and found Xinfeng guilty of fraud and misrepresentation in the way it acquired the mining license. He (the minister) subsequently revoked the company’s license, which prompted Xinfeng to approach the High Court to have the license reinstated on an urgent basis.

In his ruling, the judge found that “the first respondent proved prima facie that the applicant committed fraud in the process of applying for the mining license.”
But he also found that “the first respondent did not have the power to revoke the mining license without the express or implied authority to do so under the governing legislation but was required to approach a court for appropriate relief.”

In summary, although the Chinese outfit did break the law and the minister proved it, under Namibian law, the minister does not have the power to revoke a mining license, but he has the power to issue it, a victory for the Chinese.

Environmental Concerns

Among those opposed to Xinfeng’s lithium interests in Namibia are the inhabitants of the local community of Uis, a settlement with an estimated population of 3600 inhabitants. Here, locals eke out a living through the trade in semi-precious stones, which are found in abundance in the area. With chisels and hammers, they pound away in the glaring sun to make a living for themselves and their families.

A kilogram of rocks is sold to polishers for as little as USD 2, sometimes even less.
The tourmaline, topaz, and quartz crystals are handcrafted and sold as jewelry, with pieces selling for as much as USD 41 for a necklace or a ring.

These small-scale miners have since been displaced to make way for Xinfeng.
The heavy machinery, which includes tipper trucks and huge excavators, has incensed community activists like Jimmy Areseb, who accuses the company of disregarding local beneficiation and policies adopted by the state to ensure that local communities benefit from the exploitation of mineral resources in their constituencies.

“There was no consultation that took place with the indigenous inhabitants of this area before these Chinese people were given the green light to start their mining operations; these people do not have the necessary environmental clearance to mine in such an ecologically sensitive area. The area in which Xinfeng is mining lithium is a conservancy, and the community used to benefit from trophy hunting concessions. The area also used to be a breeding ground for hyenas, rhinos, and springbok, and when their activities began, the animals moved away because of the lithium extraction methods such as blasting,” Areseb lamented.

CAG 29 which is the 29th Colloquium of African Geology was hosted in Namibia this year. — Geoscientists paid a visit to Andrada Mine on September 23, 2023, the former Uis Tin Mine, at Uis in the Erongo region of central Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Michelle Maletsky and her husband Harold are generational inhabitants of the Uis settlement. They say their parents and grandparents all made a living from the mineral endowment of the area as small-scale miners, and they had just been awarded a mining claim in the Uis area to upscale their activities when they got a shock on December 16, 2022.

They said that on December 16, 2022, when they went to the site where their mining claims were, they were not allowed to enter the site. The road had been barricaded with an entrance, and the security personnel at the gate told them they were not allowed to enter.

“My husband and I, we registered at Mines and Energy, we paid, we did everything like Mines and Energy told us, and then one day, when we checked on the system (online) of the Ministry of Mines, our claims were taken off. Then we went to the site to put up our boards (that show ownership of the mining claims), but the Chinese were fighting us; they told us no, we cannot enter the area because they bought the area for a lot of money and nobody is allowed to go in there,” Maletsky said.

Meletsky says her family has lost their means of making a living as a result of the displacement, and she and other similar miners with mining claims in the area are looking at different avenues to regain their lost claims, but this is proving to be difficult.

Conclusion

The rush for lithium has taken the dynamic of accusations of corruption, bribery, and underhanded dealings by Namibian government officials, but it has also brought hope for its green energy proponents, who believe that electric batteries will assist in reducing the globe’s carbon footprint.

Namibia, Zimbabwe, the DRC, Ghana, and Mali—can they supply the globe’s appetite for lithium? The answer is yes.

But at what cost?

Africa’s Rebirth At 60: Carrying Noble Ideas That Nobody Is Willing To Implement

Gibson Nyikadzino

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September 10, 2023

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Africa’s Rebirth At 60: Carrying Noble Ideas That Nobody Is Willing To Implement

To most academics, intellectuals, and pragmatists advocating for a genuine Pan-African renaissance six decades after the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, later renamed African Union in 2002) in Addis Ababa in 1963, the continent’s aspirations as highlighted in Agenda 2063 might fail to materialise as overwhelming evidence point to Africa’s lack of creative framing, knowledge and thought leadership in global affairs.

Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, Western global media corporations have put Africa at the tail end of post-industrial development by formulating narratives that befit Western ideology, markets, history, values, and perspectives at the expense of Africa’s existence. Even so, the outbreak of monkey-pox in Western countries got giant media deflecting the source and linking it to Africa.

When Russia launched its special military operation on Ukraine on February 24 last year, DSTV’s Multichoice shut down Russia Today (Russian television) Channel across Africa in the view that Africans must not listen to anything balanced or sympathetic to Russia, and even so, they decide on what information should be made available to Africans across the continent.

In the face of the hegemonic and dominant Western media organisations’ onslaught, Africa’s political leaders have not reacted with relevant material and content to diffuse narratives against the continent. Theirs has been an unresponsive and less committed call to action while thought leadership is needed.

The effect of the failure to provide African thought leadership has now seen African journalists writing stories about Africa without targeting the African audience but writing for a Western audience. The news framing is the same.

Dealing With A Distorted Image

Internal conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, and the war in Ethiopia that ended last November give hard lessons on the dangers of leaving foreign media corporations with the responsibility to frame Africa’s events.

African media houses have not done much to tell the African story, in most cases, they have allowed the dominant media from the Western countries to lead the narratives, and because Africa has become a ground of military, political and economic contests between the West and East, media companies such as China Global Television Network (CGTN) and Russia Today (RT) have also taken a side in framing Africa.

Instead of using hard power in Africa, both Western and Eastern countries now prefer soft and smart power, a component that infuses foreign values, principles and norms in which they assimilate and graft Africa into the phenomenon of their narratives.

At the 60^th anniversary event to commemorate the founding of the OAU on May 25, 2023, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed restated a position he made last year before African heads of state that “Africa needs to tell her own story”.

PM Ahmed said, “On this same occasion last year, I called on all of us to tackle typically the negative portrayal of Africa by the global media. I stressed the need for Africa to tell her own story and not allow others to tell it in the service of their own interests.

“In this respect, please allow me to reiterate yet again the need to establish an African Union Continental Media House. Until Africa tells her own story, her image remains distorted. And distortions affect not how others view us, but also how we view ourselves. We owe it to ourselves and our children that Africa’s truths need to be told as they are, untainted with external interests and bias.”

Without a doubt, Africa’s leaders are not oblivious to what they need to do to reconstruct the image of the continent through having a devoted African Union Continental Media House.

Ahmed’s Old Suggestion

Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, Admire Mare says the proposal by Ethiopia’s Ahmed is old as African leaders like Ghana’s independence President Kwame Nkrumah and Libya’s Col. Muammar Gaddafi made the same.

“The proposal by the PM of Ethiopia is not new. Similar proposals were made by Kwame Nkrumah and Muammar Gaddafi. It is an attempt to turn the gaze and use technological infrastructures controlled by Africans to speak back and showcase their own stories.

“Similar attempts have been seen with Al Jazeera, CGTN and Russia Today. The role of the media is still seen in instrumental ways, that is, as an enabler to speak back and speak out. On paper, the proposal is appealing but media sustainability and editorial interference are teething problems.”

According to Mare, African governments will face serious challenges in relation to financing models to fund the African Union Continental Media House, at a time when the AU is also failing to fund its operations.

He made reference to the closure of The Southern Times newspaper, an initiative set up by the governments of Namibia and Zimbabwe in 2004 to provide alternative narratives to Western views that targeted Zimbabwe at the height of its land redistribution programme. The Southern Times announced in 2019 that it was closing operations due to “dwindling financial resources”.

Prof. Mare adds, “We have seen the closure of The Southern Times (a Zimbabwe-Namibia) initiative, so there is no guarantee such a proposal by PM Ahmed will not close shop. To make it work, there is need to come up with a solid business model, strong and accountable board of directors and hiring of media professionals from all African countries. The media house should have bureau chiefs or correspondents in all the countries in Africa.”

Media and Journalism senior lecturer at Limkwokwing University in Lesotho, Mr. Tawanda Mukurunge shared similar thoughts with Prof. Mare that PM Ahmed’s proposal is old and documented in the 1980 MacBride Report also known as Many Voices, One World sponsored by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Findings of the MacBride Report were in response to the 1970s New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate on the non-equitable access to information and media imperialism.

“There is nothing new about this concept. We have the Pan-African News Agency that was formed in 1979, with headquarters in Senegal, to produce content that presents and preserves the voice of Africa. The essence of NWICO was to counter the reports that Global South countries should be in the periphery of information access,” said Mr. Mukurunge.

According to Mr. Mukurunge, the key challenge to the full realisation of this proposal is the lack of unity between African countries.

“Some of the Francophone countries rely too much on their former coloniser, France, to the extent that as African leaders might agree on something, but when it comes to voting and execution they tend to get directives from France, and that is problematic.

“Remember when Zimbabwe was seeking to galvanise African leaders through having support on its land reform programme, it was Senegal’s former leader Abdoulaye Wade who opposed Zimbabwe’s position to please the French. As long as some of our people are controlled by external forces, as a continent we will not go anywhere,” added Mr. Mukurunge.

So Much Work To Do

There is so much work to do. African journalism needs to go beyond the simple problem of news framing to epistemic framing. Epistemic framing is about the locus of enunciation of the story, that is, the body political and geopolitical of the subject that speaks.

When one listens to or reads African print and electronic news, there is no difference to tell whether the news is meant for an African or Western audience. This tends to show that African journalism seems to be preoccupied with lower-order ethics shaped by the social and epistemic location of the storyteller.

Politics and Journalism lecturer at the Africa University in Zimbabwe, Dr. Alexander Rusero says African journalism will never see an authentic framework as long as it remains in the shadows of the West.

“We (Africans) are still hunters and gatherers of information. We have no authentic African journalism or media but rather colonial mimicry,” says Dr. Rusero.

Lumumba’s Tooth: A Symbolic Caricature Of Afrika’s Continued Political Toothlessness

Gibson Nyikadzino

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July 10, 2022

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Lumumba’s Tooth: A Symbolic Caricature Of Afrika’s Continued Political Toothlessness

The western media’s campaign in 1960 to discredit the first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of Congo (modern-day DRC), Patrice Èmery Lumumba, make a sad ending as the burial of his golden tooth last week Thursday, 30th June shows the continued pauperisation of Africa’s heroes in both life and death.

On June 30, 1960, Lumumba’s independence speech after the country untangled the shackles of Belgian colonialism inspired great confidence in the other countries that were fighting for independence.

For him, the Congo’s victory over Belgium was a victory for Africa. His plan for the struggle for political independence and economic emancipation of the Congo was to have a far and wide-reaching impact on the whole of Africa.

“The Congo’s independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent. It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.

“That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten,” Lumumba said in his independence speech.

While his yearning for African independence was a wholesome commitment to the sprouting movements of freedom in other countries like Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, western media was planning to erase Lumumba’s historical contributions to Africa’s independence renaissance.

With high tensions fostered by the Cold War, many from the western bloc that was led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the USA’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) described and labelled Lumumba as the “man who has the head of Lenin which has to be crushed.”

Lumumba’s boldness in preaching the socialist ideology in the face of capitalism made those who want to monopolise the world kill him.

In his book, The Assassination of Lumumba, Belgian academic Ludo De Witte highlighted that no person of African extract was expected to speak against Europeans like the way Lumumba did on independence day because they were masters of all humanity.

Lumumba’s Flame Of Consciousness Dying

For Africa, the recorded last words of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary President Thomas Sankara in 1987 when he was facing his assassins that “ideas cannot die”, speak in contradiction of the actions shown by Africans at the arrival of the continent’s hero’s golden tooth that was kept as a trophy in Belgium.

While “ideas cannot die” has been a popularised way to speak for independence and post-colonial freedom by Pan Africanists and nationalists in general, the silence of Africa on Lumumba’s demise on January 17, 1961 poses a loud betrayal and dissipating appetite of continental togetherness.

Lumumba, just like Sankara, had the vision to see Africa independent of all manacles that were impeding its growth. A reality that is difficult to envision today under the new continental leaders who, mostly, have sacrificed principle on the altar of political expediency.

Burying An Incomplete Hero As Atonement

Lumumba fought for the Congo’s independence as a complete man. The burial of his golden tooth, his only remains, on Thursday 30th June at the 62^nd independence anniversary of the DRC invokes the colonial prejudices and an unfair post-colonial setting where Africa’s former colonisers show no remorse over their past misdeeds.

In November 2002, Belgian authorities who had deliberately engineered the elimination of Lumumba released a report of his murder, an inquiry that was carried out by a parliamentary commission by examining archival and testimonial evidence.

The accounts examined were porous and evidence also showed that many witnesses were not subjected to rigorous cross-examination. It was a stage-managed inquiry to allow for a “national consensus” over the matter, critics said then.

Even those who participated in Lumumba’s violent death, most have used Cold War rhetoric to their defence and have died a reluctant death. One such man is Gerard Soete, a Belgian police officer who directed Lumumba’s assassination and threw his chopped pieces into acid, later said the Congo’s independence Prime Minister “had beautiful teeth” before his death in June 2000.

Gerard’s daughter, Godelive, reportedly shared images of the tooth with Belgian media following pressure from Lumumba’s family.

Without bringing the matter to justice, DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, while presiding at the 62^nd independence anniversary said the “Congolese people can have the honour of offering a burial to their illustrious prime minister.”

“We are ending mourning we started 61 years ago,” said President Tshisekedi.

In 2011 while speaking to The Gambia’s exiled former president, Yahya Jammeh, Lumumba’s youngest son, Roland, disclosed that his family was trying to follow the good ideals and practices of his late father towards the liberation efforts of Africa.

“We must know exactly who did it, how and why. We have the right to know and it is our duty to pass this knowledge onto the future generation. The answers to these questions should be known by all Africans,” said Roland.

Now that the answers are clear for the Lumumba family, the Congolese and African people, the burial of Lumumba’s remains without a formal apology from the Belgian political and monarchical establishment project a tainted Africa-Europe future relationship.

In a letter read at Lumumba’s funeral by one of his granddaughters, it painted a picture of an Africa that has not been shocked but expressed a silent satisfaction with the burial of Lumumba’s tooth as a historical victory for Africa by the return of his remains.

“With you, today, Africa is writing its own history,” read Lumumba’s granddaughter.

Africa’s Painful Path To Recolonisation?

In his lecture on The Past, Present and Future of Pan Africanism at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa last October, renowned Pan Africanist and public intellectual Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba said Africa is weak hence no one wants to pay attention to its progress, if it has any.

P.L.O. Lumumba on the Past, Present and Future of Pan Africanism — Pan-Afrikanist, P.L.O. Lumumba is one of the vocal figures whose call for Pan-Afrikan political leadership has largely been ignored by neocolonial African political rulers who are merely complacent with being political figureheads in the gross destabilization and maladministration of Afrika. Credit: Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia

He said the issue of Pan Africanism and African unity is a basis for the continent to come together and avoid yesteryear pitfalls that came with colonisation.

“If you want to know how weak we are look at how we are treated. When our leaders even if they are saying something, it is something that can be ignored. The world does not listen because we are weak and disunited. So we have a weak continent because the spirit of Pan-Africanism disappeared.

“We are weak. That is the reality of our mother continent. It is because we are politically weak, economically weak and socially we are disorganised, culturally and spiritually we are confused. That is the continent in which we are in today. We unite or we perish.

“We need to use our Africanness as a building block to talk about African unity. Sometimes when we talk about Pan-Africanism and African unity, people think we are being simplistic about it. No, it is not being simplistic. It is recognising that as long as we remain the way we are, then African in the next 25 years will be recolonised. So the question that we can ask is what is the state of Pan Africanism as we speak today?” asked Prof. Lumumba.

He said the weakness of the continental body, the AU, stems from the manner it acts.

“The African Union, which is weak, says the right things and does the wrong things nine out of ten times,” he added.

An ‘Illegal’ Economy Fortified With Blessings Of Ruling Elite

Gibson Nyikadzino

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May 12, 2021

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An ‘Illegal’ Economy Fortified With Blessings Of Ruling Elite

On April 18, Zimbabwe celebrated its 41^st independence anniversary from British colonial rule amid a presidential promise that the country’s mining sector will contribute US$12 billion dollars in revenue by 2023.

The country’s over sixty mineral resources ranging from diamonds, platinum and gold remain under-explored. According to the country’s minister of Mines and Mining Development Mr. Winston Chitando, “Zimbabwe does not know the estimated value of its mineral wealth.”

Despite the huge wealth in mineral deposits, the lives of many Zimbabweans have not improved. In his independence speech, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa reiterated his government’s plan to have the mining sector contribute hugely to the economy and improve the lives of citizens. By 2030, Zimbabwe seeks to achieve an upper-middle-income economic status.

“The mining industry is projected to rebound by eleven percent this year. Guided by the strategy to achieve a US$12 billion industry by 2023, programs that include increased exploration, expansion of existing mining projects, resuscitation of closed mines, opening of new mines, mineral beneficiation and value addition are being prioritized,” said President Mnangagwa in his independence speech.

Zimbabwe's leader since November 2017 — Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa addresses the nation in his Independence Day speech revealing that the country’s mining sector will be a US$12 billion dollar industry by 2023 despite Zimbabwe losing over one billion dollars through gold smuggling and illegal trade of the mineral. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Zimbabwe’s goldfields and other mineral fields are today a contested terrain where even the elite and state institutions including the country’s Defence Forces are scrambling for a slice of the cake. In 2008, Mr. Farai Maguwu, the director of Center for Natural Resource Governance was arrested for bringing to attention the abuses committed by Zimbabwe’s security forces in the Marange diamond fields.

The gold sector has not been spared. According to a 2020 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) gold buyers linked to President Mnangagwa buy the precious mineral on a premium, deterring the gold panners from selling the gold to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole authorized gold buyer.

Resources Plunder By An Intemperate, Predatory Elite

After his dismissal then as Vice President in November 2017, Mnangagwa was accused of amassing wealth by grabbing mines belonging to small-scale miners. “Mnangagwa also grabbed many mines which belong to small-scale miners. He was abusing his authority as the Vice President to grab whatever he wants. We say Mnangagwa must be arrested because he is corrupt, he must face the music,” said then party official Mr. Dickson Mafios at a rally.

In 2018 former Higher Education Minister in Zimbabwe Prof. Jonathan Moyo also revealed that President Mnangagwa’s activities and those of his close circle are despicable that even the United Nations (UN) had to publish a report about their activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) second civil war.

“The person who led the plunder of resources in the DRC leading to the United Nations (UN) investigating and coming with a report that is still there is Emmerson Mnangagwa along with the military cabal of General Chiwenga and SB Moyo. The person who brought the Chinese to plunder Chiadzwa Diamond Fields up to a point to which we had at the very least from 2007 to 2014 some US$12 to US$15 billion in diamond revenue that remain unaccounted for that went into the pockets of individuals is Mnangagwa,” Prof. Moyo said.

The report titled Plundering of DR Congo Natural Resources: Final Report of the Panel of Experts (S/2002/1146) was published in October 2002.

Chief beneficiary — President Mnangagwa’s name has been implicated in a scandal of six kilograms of gold that were recovered by the police destined for Dubai, allegedly involving his wife Auxillia, son Collins and close relative Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Today President Mnangagwa and his family’s name continue to ring in illegal gold deals. Illegal gold mining or artisanal small-scale mining in Zimbabwe has been a launchpad for many illicit financial flows and gold smuggling out of the country. Home Affairs minister Mr. Kazembe Kazembe in February this year admitted that smuggling and illegal gold deals are costing the country between US$1.2 billion to US$1.5 billion dollars annually.

In October last year, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya, a “close Mnangagwa relative” implicated Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and their son Collins after she was arrested at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport attempting to smuggle six kilograms of gold worth over US$360,000 to Dubai.

The First Lady distanced herself from Ms. Rushwaya’s arrest. “I have no dealings nor involvement with Ms. Rushwaya of any illegal kind,” she said. The gold sector in Zimbabwe has become a vital cog in foreign currency earning with many entrants using President Mnangagwa’s name to make inroads.

A US$12 Billion Election Campaign Promise For 2023?

Mr. Maguwu doubts the sincerity of the Mnangagwa administration in reaching the US$12 billion mining sector contribution to the economy by 2023. He further notes “Zimbabwe has far surpassed that mark.” Late Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe in 2015 claimed the country had not received much from its diamond industry and lost about US$15 billion in the sector.

“We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. Not much by the way of earnings. I don’t think we have exceeded US$2 billion or so and yet we think that well over US$15 billion dollars have been earned in that area,” President Mugabe claimed then.

Zimbabwe is scheduled for general elections in 2023 and according to Mr. Maguwu, the government initiative in the mining sector is a campaign tool similar to the 2013 elections.

In 2010, Zimbabwe had an Employee and Community Share Ownership Scheme (ECSOS) in which foreign-owned companies were expected to cede some of their investments towards employee and community empowerment. After the 2013 elections, the scheme has been dumped.

“To me, it sounds like a political statement targeting the 2023 election, similar to the 2010 community share ownership scheme that was going to empower communities, and it led to the 2013 elections. After that election the whole thing died a natural death, now they are talking about a US$12 billion dollar economy by 2023, which is another election year. There is no feasibility study as to what is wrong with our mining sector. You cannot fix what you do not know. So there is no research carried out to say what is wrong and how do we correct it.”

“This government is silent on mining corruption. They are not talking about it and that is where the money is. It is not about making big statements and making promises to the nation,” Mr. Maguwu said.

Meeting target — Mines Minister Mr. Chitando dismissed critics for insinuating the US$12 billion dollar mining industry sector target by 2023 is a political campaign strategy. In his admission, he said Zimbabwe does not know the cumulative value of its mineral wealth. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Minister Chitando dismissed Mr. Maguwu’s assertion. He says the expected US$12 billion dollar contribution by the mining sector will be revenue streamed into the national fiscas.

“The US$12 billion dollars is the revenue that will be coming to the fiscas from the mining sector. There are projects happening now in the platinum sector, we have three new projects taking place. We have expansion projects taking place and all projects are taking place in reality. The fact that we took a five-year window is because that is the target we are working on,” explained Minister Chitando.

Uphold Rule Of Law To Plug Leakages, Illegality

Mr. Wellington Takavarasha, the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF), an organization owned by President Mnangagwa’s close relative Ms. Rushwaya, highlighted that artisanal small-scale miners contribution to the US$12 billion contribution is dwindling as some miners are being arrested.

Between 2017 and 2020, artisanal small-scale miners contributed a total of sixty tonnes of gold to the sanctioned government buyer, Fidelity Printers and Refiners. Because of arrests of the artisanal small-scale miners, gold output has declined from 60 percent to 47 percent. In 2019, small-scale miners contributed 17 tonnes as opposed to 9.8 tonnes in 2020.

“This year’s first quarter, our output has declined but we have the potential to contribute to the US$12 billion target. Our strategies include having our ventures formalized, mechanized, and have government resuscitate the mining industry loan fund,” said Mr. Takavarasha.

ZMF estimates that a tonne of gold is traded illicitly outside the formal market, which is fuelled by more than 1.3 million unregistered artisanal small-scale miners against its membership of 40,000.

Zimbabwe’s Gold Trade Act prohibits people without licenses to trade in the precious material. “Illegal mining is a livelihood activity that needs to be formalized. As it is, government is not benefiting but the middlemen and police are benefiting,” added Mr. Takavarasha.

Illegal gold dealings and smuggling is no new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. Successive ministers have raised the issue but their principals have turned a blind eye to their calls. Economist Mr. Nyasha Muchichwa says for government to stop the leakages, it needs to “uphold the rule of law and offer a competitive price to stop arbitrage.”

Government sanctioned buyer Fidelity Printers and Refiners is currently buying gold at US$45 per gram while on the illegal market it is US$54 per gram.

“The fact that we can quantify the money we are losing means we know that it is happening and when it has happened. The law should take its course and to those caught on the wrong side to be used as an example on what not to do.”

“When paying for those mining or selling gold, let us pay competitive rates so there is no arbitrage. As long as we have different prices this is when you find people making other means to get more money from the mineral they are holding. We need to address the price, laws that govern the selling, and the issue of our porous borders,” said Mr. Muchichwa.

Congo Kinshasa

Namibia Lithium Battle

Africa’s Rebirth At 60: Carrying Noble Ideas That Nobody Is Willing To Implement

Lumumba’s Tooth: A Symbolic Caricature Of Afrika’s Continued Political Toothlessness

An ‘Illegal’ Economy Fortified With Blessings Of Ruling Elite

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IMF And World Bank: The ‘Bad Samaritans’ And Neoliberals Cheating Africa Into A Cycle...