Businessman and allegedly gold runner Wickell Chivayo has finally responded to the Al Jazeera documentary exposing corruption and money laundering.
Chivayo was implicated in the gold smuggling scandal as one of the runners who transport the gold to Dubai.
The millionaire said the documentary is not balanced, but tilted in favour of the opposition who solicited for the imposition of illegal sanctions over two decades ago.
Below is Chivayo’s full statement:
The Rubbish Al-Jazeera Documentary ;
Over the past week, there has been some unnecessary public euphoria on the so-called exposé by Al Jazeera on cross-border trading of Zimbabwean gold with the international market. I have watched the documentary at least twice, after assuming that I might have missed certain basic media practice, research principles and journalism ethics which must be observed in the creation of documentaries of this nature. I could not help but observe the following;
a) Information source and its credibility
Throughout the sensationalised documentary, there is constant reliance on unsubstantiated and alarmist comments by a senior politician from an opposition party. Without an ounce of evidence, the same politician who was part of a cabal that solicited for the imposition of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe over two decades ago, alleges that about a USD1 Billion is being “smuggled” out of Zimbabwe through what he terms a “gold mafia”. These unsubstantiated claims are obviously bizarre considering the quantities that would have to be involved to meet the alleged value of USD1 Billion to be “smuggled”. What however raises the most suspicion is that Al Jazeera conveniently avoided interviewing Government officials at the Ministry of Finance, RBZ, ZIMRA or any senior politician from the ruling Party, ZANU PF. The documentary is therefore not balanced, but rather tilted in favour of the opposition.
b) Timing of the Documentary
Al Jazeera alleges in the documentary that the so-called “gold-mafia” has always been plying its trade in the Country since the days of former President Mugabe (MHSRIP). What boggles the mind however is that Al Jazeera only saw it fit to publish the deceptive documentary around four (4) months before the much-awaited 2023 harmonized elections in Zimbabwe. Can this be mere coincidence, especially considering the prominent role played by opposition figures in the documentary? VERY unlikely!!! If you ask me, the documentary is just but a rouse and ploy by opposition handlers to discredit the SECOND REPUBLIC as ably led by HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT E. D. MNANGAGWA. No amount of campaigning through international media houses can discredit the MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT that the RULING PARTY has achieved under the Second Republic.
c) Substance of the documentary
Apart from making sensational allegations of corruption and smuggling, the documentary carries no substance at all. It admits on one hand that all gold is declared to Fidelity Refineries, yet on the other it claims that there is no process to monitor outflows of the yellow metal. It further confirms that all gold is declared to and approved for export by the RBZ (and even produce what they understand as certificates from the Central Bank), but claim that the gold is smuggled out of the Country 🤷🏽. The inconsistency simply goes to show the desperate attempts by opposition benefactors to decampaign efforts by ZANU PF to develop ZIMBABWE through transparent exploitation of its natural resources.
The documentary conveniently ignores the fact that ZIMBABWE is now nearing a USD12 BILLION mining industry by virtue of the gold exports through Government. Export earnings from gold trade have funded unprecedented infrastructure development in the Country such as Road Rehabilitation, Dam Construction, devolution programmes, etc. Vanhu ngavataure zvavanoziva please !!!
d) Attack on the Ambassador at Large
The criticism of the AMBASSADOR AT LARGE is from a position of pure ignorance. Without taking away the position as clarified in the Ambassador’s Statement, people must know that where BILLION DOLLAR DEALS are being negotiated, quick and authoritative decisions must be made. Umwe haasati ambo pinda mudhiri re US$1000 , how can you understand the language used in big money transactions ? We say and over promise anything and everything when interacting with billionaires.
e) My sweet advice
Ini hangu I have personally never been involved or interested in gold buying or trading. Handitozive kuti gold rakaita sei. The only gold I know is on my US$100,000 Rolex watch. But for a big media house such as Al Jazeera to attempt scoring political goals on behalf of a dying opposition political outfit is low and embarrassing. To make matters worse, the documentary creates an illusion that wese afamba ne Emirates, especially EK714 to Dubai anenge akatakura GOLD 😂😂😂😂. TOTYA here kukwira EMIRATES because the COURT of PUBLIC opinion will think we are “Gold Mafia” or ma runners ema shefu? 🤷🏽
My advice especially to the YOUTH is that your future is MUCH SAFER in the hands of HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT E. D. MNANGAGWA! ZANU PF is leaving NO-ONE and NO-PLACE behind by putting all mineral export proceeds to develop our beloved ZIMBABWE. Once commerce and trade in agriculture, mining etc is supported at Government level, zvichasvikawo kwatiri tese and we benefit as a Country. Let us fully support our Government as it endeavours to create a middle income economy by 2030.
#5Million votes
#vision2030
#EDPfeee
