Gold mafia paid Mnangagwa

Investigative journalists who worked on Qatar-based global news network Al Jazeera's Gold Mafia documentary say whistleblowers and an accountant for one of Africa's most notorious gold dealers confirmed criminals were making regular payments to President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House to ensure they operate smoothly.

The journalists said documents they had trawled through and studied also confirmed the payments.

Sara Yeo and Alexander James told The NewsHawks in an interview on the sidelines of the  African Investigative Journalism Conference at Witwatersrand (Wits) University in Johannesburg, South Africa, this past week that whistleblowers and Pattni's accountant confirmed that Mnangagwa received regular payments.

Yeo and James told journalists attending the conference that they had no doubt Mnangagwa was the power behind the rival gangs looting Zimbabwe's gold and that he was receiving payment from criminals. Although the gangs were different, they all operated with Mnangagwa's blessings.

"I think with Kamlesh Pattni as well, we were speaking to Raj, who is also his whistleblower, who is also his accountant. So he confirmed what Kamlesh Patni was saying; that he had to deliver to the State House every fortnight, I think it was just payment to Number One," Yeo said.

James said all the evidence they gathered corroborated what the gangs revealed on camera.

"When they're talking about it, they're confirming essentially what we're seeing on the documentsor what we're seeing through the testimony of the whistleblowers too," James said.

"These guys, you know, they have the veneer of legitimacy. They have paperwork. They have gold trading licences. They are not hiding in the shadows. They're doing their own scams, too... I'm sure there's stuff that the President wasn't aware of that they're doing, too, but they operate at his discretion.

"They serve at his will. "Every single one of them talks about the necessity, as Pattni says, to have the king with you. And we're left in no doubt that that was how they operated and how they continue to operate. Someone like Kamlesh Pattni is a political operator first and foremost, too. So they occupy this space, and they occupy the space because of the situation created by President Mnangagwa."

James said Mnangagwa was the common denominator I'm all these operations due to his relations with networks of dodgy businesspeople and key players in Zimbabwe, including the controversial pastor and businessman Uebert Angel, his niece Henrieta Rushwaya, who is also the Zimbabwe Miners' Federation boss, gold baron Pedzai Scott Sakupwanya and many other people.

"I think the phone call with Auxilia Mnangagwa confirmed that we were really dealing with the very top," James said.

Pattni, who was implicated in the Goldenberg scandal which almost bankrupted Kenya in the 1990s, revealed his younger brother paid Mnangagwa every two weeks to enable him to smoothy carry out his gold and money laundering operations in Zimbabwe.

"This is like the norm of life. The incentives, the fees... the appreciation," said Pattni.

"Every two weeks, Swetang, my brother is there. Every fortnight, he is there at the State House. We always contribute our appreciation."

At that point one of the reporters asked: "To Mnangagwa?"

"To the King himself," Pattni said.

"When you work, you must always have the king with you. The President."