How gold incentives work in Zimbabwe

IN the past few days, social media and media outlets have been awash with claims that there is grand looting of state funds between Treasury and a selected few individuals, especially after a payment instruction of about US$4.2 million for gold incentives to Betterbrands Petroleum was leaked. 

The media reported on it.

I would like to explain and clarify some issues for a better understanding of the issue by journalists and the general public.

I have a good understanding of gold trading in Zimbabwe and want to explain how it works to dispel misinformation and misleading stories about certain issues.

And what I know is open to checks at Fidelity Printers and Refiners for any journalist who wants verify and to know how it happens. 

I'm also hope The media will publish this piece and some attached documentary evidence as balance to what was published before here and on other media platforms.

We are all aware that Betterbrands is owned by Mabvuku-Tafara MP Pedzai "Scott" Sakupwanya, hence the noise which followed the leaking of the documents. 

The fact of the matter is that to curb rampant gold smuggling gold mainly to South Africa and encourage formalisation of over one million small-scale miners, government introduced a 5% incentive on top of the normal price of gold to make it attractive to sell through official channels and also help increase the country's gold reserves. 

Most of our gold was being smuggled to South Africa, Dubai and other places with local unscrupulous dealers earning far more than they were being paid by Fidelity. 

Actually, the locals were benefitting from incentives on top of the normal price in the South African market and so in essence tonnes of Zimbabwe's gold was boosting South Africa's reserves, with very little was being delivered locally. 

This prompted government to come up with its own incentive in which Treasury pays as long one delivers at least 500 grammes.

The incentive scheme used to apply to only those who would have delivered 20kgs at a time. 

This incentive is official government policy, designed to curb rampant gold smuggling, encourage the formalisation of over one million small-scale and artisanal miners, and ultimately building  Zimbabwe's gold reserves – a critical pillar for maintaining a sustainable local currency backed by real assets. 

This means even the smallest miners can now participate in the formal economy and benefit from the 5% incentive – a move which further incentivises formal and legal deliveries over illegal channels. 

Ministry of Finance permanent secretary George Guvamatanga is mandated to execute such duties like making sure the incentives are paid to boost gold deliveries contrary to misinformation peddled by naysayers on social media platforms.

I will quote blogger Dereck Goto who once said: 

"Whether it was George Guvamatanga, you, or I serving as Permanent Secretary, any competent official would have signed the same letter to operationalise this policy.

"To vilify a public servant for fulfilling legal and policy obligations is not only misinformed, but entirely unjustified."

Facts of the matter are the incentive scheme has seen an increase in gold production and deliveries, especially from small scale producers. 

Because of the incentive, gold output increased. 

For example, April 2025 output was up 61% as it jumped to 3.853.58 kilograms from 2.386.90 last year. 

This incentive by the way is not only peculiar to Zimbabwe, but is most gold producing countries in the world. 

Turning to the payment that Betterbrands received which caused so much noise on social media, why did social media practitioners and the media create a picture that the Finance Ministry just decided to instruct Treasury to pay Betterbrands without work being done, without gold deliveries being confirmed, without order papers and several other paperwork needed? 

Is Guvamatanga so foolish and brazen to wake up and decide to pay Betterbrands USD$4.2 million from nowhere? 

The answer is obviously NO. 

Betterbrands is the biggest individual supplier of gold to Fidelity and always gets such incentives. 

Actually, the fact of the matter is that Betterbrands supplies between US$200 million and US300 million worth of gold to Fidelity a month. 

In the past for years, Betterbrands has  delivered up to 60 tonnes of gold which translates to over US$6 billion which the country earned. 

If Betterbrands can bring in US$300 million worth of forex per month surely what should be their incentive at Fidelity per month? 

Mind you, dozens of people are in the process benefitting from the incentive because it is not only Sakupwanya who is delivering gold to Fidelity. 

As a county, why don't we say thank you to Betterbrands for bringing so much forex to the country? 

Some questioned why Betterbrands Petroleum was paid? 

Did they supply fuel? No they didn't supply fuel. They delivered tonnes of gold, but they chose to use Betterbrands Petroleum Account for their incentive payment. 

Nothing corrupt at all. Surely, everyone is allowed to choose which account they want their money deposited. 

Does Betterbrands or any other company which supplies gold deserve the incentive - yes they do that is why our gold reserves have improved. 

That is why there is forex in the country. Guvamatanga handles hundreds of payments a day and surely can't be expected to explain every payment to the public. 

Besides we have the audit general land hey check every payment governments makes. 

I hope I tried to explain adequately. When The Newshawks publishes this I will l be ready to respond on issues arising on the same platform.

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Sibanda is a local mining consultant who works within the gold trade market.