Opinion / Columnist
'Chinese influential players in Zimbabwe illicit gold trade' - why not, milking their colony to death
08 Jun 2021 at 17:16hrs | Views
"Chinese Now Influential Players In Illicit Gold Trade: Study!" screamed the headlines in New Zimbabwe.
"The presence and influence of Chinese nationals in the Zimbabwe gold sector has significantly grown since 2010. The presence of Chinese nationals has become a political hot potato. Benefits allegedly include fast-tracking licences and protection from law enforcement. One industry representative reported, ‘The Chinese have the audacity to tell government compliance officers that they are small boys'." According to Global Initiative Against Transitional Organised Crime (GI-TOC) on; "Illicit Gold Markets in East and Southern Africa" published last month.
"Chinese nationals are also involved in supplying equipment and processing gold ore in Zimbabwe. In most gold mining towns, Chinese owned shops sell ASGM (Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining) equipment, including mercury thought to be sourced from China."
China helped Zimbabwe in the fight for our independence a blessing that has quickly turned into a curse!
Zanu PF has granted the Chinese special privileges after independence such as the contract to build the national stadium to repay the debt for all the assistance. We have long repaid the debt a thousand times over in the first decade of our independence!
The Chinese have stay on and increased their indebtedness to Mugabe and Zanu PF by helping the regime establish and maintain the de facto one-party dictatorship, by helping it rig elections and by giving it financial support especially after the IMF, WB and other Western based financial assistance stopped to doing so in the late 1990s.
Zimbabwe's independence was just an empty gesture in that we got rid of one colonial master only to get another colonial master who ruthless economic exploitation has left us poorer. We jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
The Chinese have total control over their Zanu PF puppets, they are the ones who decide which puppet is the top dog. Mugabe thought he was his own master and booted the Chinese out of Maranga and Chiadzwa in 2016 and a few months later he was woken up with an AK47 rifle up his backside. The Chinese were back in Maranga and Chiadzwa soon after the November 2017 military coup and they, together with their ZDF puppets, have since reclaimed the best diamond mining plots.
The Chinese have extended their portfolios to other minerals such as platinum, lithium, coal and gold and into other activities such as power generation, farming and lots of other things. The Chinese are calling the shots and Mnangagwa knows better than to dare challenge them.
"We don't need anyone's money (to finance development) as we can do it on our own. Sometimes it's just the mindset and belief to achieve that," Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Dr John Mangudya, told Business Times in February this year.
"Like what oil is to Nigeria, gold is to Zimbabwe. The precious mineral alone has the potential to turn around the country's fortunes."
The RBZ Governor revealed that Zimbabwe was losing as much as US1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers alone! And yet the country's economy has all but collapse sending unemployment soaring to 90% plus, basic services like education and health care have collapsed and 49% of a people are living in heart breaking abject poverty!
41 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule have landed us in this man-made hell-on-earth. We have known for decades the solution to our economic and political mess is for the country to implement the democratic reforms and cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. We have failed to do so largely because the Chinese have helped Zanu PF to keep the de facto one-part dictatorship.
Over the years China has increased its economical, political and, most important of all, technological influence in Zimbabwe, particularly as regards the command and control of the country's securocrats. It should be remembered that Zimbabwe is a Police State and whoever controls the security controls the state.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zimbabwe lost her independence and sovereignty to the Chinese a long time ago.
"Chinese are influential players in illicit gold trade!" Zimbabwe is a Chinese colony in all but name and they are milking their colony to death!
"The presence and influence of Chinese nationals in the Zimbabwe gold sector has significantly grown since 2010. The presence of Chinese nationals has become a political hot potato. Benefits allegedly include fast-tracking licences and protection from law enforcement. One industry representative reported, ‘The Chinese have the audacity to tell government compliance officers that they are small boys'." According to Global Initiative Against Transitional Organised Crime (GI-TOC) on; "Illicit Gold Markets in East and Southern Africa" published last month.
"Chinese nationals are also involved in supplying equipment and processing gold ore in Zimbabwe. In most gold mining towns, Chinese owned shops sell ASGM (Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining) equipment, including mercury thought to be sourced from China."
China helped Zimbabwe in the fight for our independence a blessing that has quickly turned into a curse!
Zanu PF has granted the Chinese special privileges after independence such as the contract to build the national stadium to repay the debt for all the assistance. We have long repaid the debt a thousand times over in the first decade of our independence!
The Chinese have stay on and increased their indebtedness to Mugabe and Zanu PF by helping the regime establish and maintain the de facto one-party dictatorship, by helping it rig elections and by giving it financial support especially after the IMF, WB and other Western based financial assistance stopped to doing so in the late 1990s.
Zimbabwe's independence was just an empty gesture in that we got rid of one colonial master only to get another colonial master who ruthless economic exploitation has left us poorer. We jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
The Chinese have total control over their Zanu PF puppets, they are the ones who decide which puppet is the top dog. Mugabe thought he was his own master and booted the Chinese out of Maranga and Chiadzwa in 2016 and a few months later he was woken up with an AK47 rifle up his backside. The Chinese were back in Maranga and Chiadzwa soon after the November 2017 military coup and they, together with their ZDF puppets, have since reclaimed the best diamond mining plots.
"We don't need anyone's money (to finance development) as we can do it on our own. Sometimes it's just the mindset and belief to achieve that," Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Dr John Mangudya, told Business Times in February this year.
"Like what oil is to Nigeria, gold is to Zimbabwe. The precious mineral alone has the potential to turn around the country's fortunes."
The RBZ Governor revealed that Zimbabwe was losing as much as US1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers alone! And yet the country's economy has all but collapse sending unemployment soaring to 90% plus, basic services like education and health care have collapsed and 49% of a people are living in heart breaking abject poverty!
41 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule have landed us in this man-made hell-on-earth. We have known for decades the solution to our economic and political mess is for the country to implement the democratic reforms and cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. We have failed to do so largely because the Chinese have helped Zanu PF to keep the de facto one-part dictatorship.
Over the years China has increased its economical, political and, most important of all, technological influence in Zimbabwe, particularly as regards the command and control of the country's securocrats. It should be remembered that Zimbabwe is a Police State and whoever controls the security controls the state.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zimbabwe lost her independence and sovereignty to the Chinese a long time ago.
"Chinese are influential players in illicit gold trade!" Zimbabwe is a Chinese colony in all but name and they are milking their colony to death!
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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