Zimbabwean anti-sanctions activist, Rutendo Benson Matinyarare, has revealed how Henrietta Rushwaya buys gold.
Rutendo wrote on Facebook:
HOW HENRIETTA SELLS GOLD
In 2021, Frontline Marketing, my company, was approached by an Italian client interested in buying gold in Zimbabwe.
Upon their inquiry, I contacted #HenriettaRushwaya to inquire about the gold buying process. She immediately informed me that she doesn’t deal in gold in her personal capacity and advised me to ask my client to write a Letter of Intent to the #ZimbabweMinersFederation (ZMF), which has a gold buying license representing over 1.2 million artisanal and small-scale miners.
Subsequently, my client wrote the letter (see first comment), and ZMF responded. In their cover email attached to their response, they stated that ZMF is eager to expand the mining capacity of small-scale miners, in pursuit of Zimbabwe’s 2023 $13 billion mining output.
And in order to achieve this, they were looking for partners who would pay retainers, invest in machinery, and be part of the value-chain that would produce the gold they were seeking, rather than clients who wanted to pick-and-pay for gold.
Furthermore, ZMF outlined that the deal would be negotiated between the client, RBZ, the Government of Zimbabwe, #ZIMRA, ZMF, and Fidelity Printers. They also stated that the deliveries would have to be first approved by the above stakeholders and go through ZIMRA for tax collection.
Although the client was initially satisfied with the proposal, the deal eventually fell through after they became aware of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Upon listening to the Al Jazeera documentary, Henrietta seems to be saying the same thing. However, her submission appears to have been manipulated to convey a different message.
Finally, since 2021, the Zimbabwean government has been granting more black Zimbabweans gold buying licenses to enable them to purchase gold and sell it globally on behalf of #FidelityPrinters. This is because Fidelity Printers has been removed from the #LondonBullionMarketAssociation and cannot sell internationally due to sanctions.
In other words, the RBZ subsidiary was sanctioned to stop the government selling our gold, hence the need for agents and middlemen as the UN Special Rapporteur said.
Rutendo Matinyarare Chairman of ZASM and owner of Frontline Strat Marketing Consultancy.
