18 April 2023. Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) joins the rest of the nation in commemorating Zimbabwe’s Independence Day. The importance of self-determination and independence from colonial domination cannot be overemphasised. On this day we remember all the sacrifices made by Zimbabweans – both on the battlefront and in the communities – to free our country.
As Zimbabwe turns 43, we are deeply concerned with the loss of values that bound us together as fish and water as we struggled for an independent Zimbabwe. Inequality is widening, unemployment extremely high whilst more than 90% of the citizenry are living below the poverty datum line. The extreme poverty Zimbabweans are experiencing is inexplicable given the country’s natural resource endowment, particularly minerals. Zimbabwe is blessed with abundant strategic minerals such as gold, diamonds, chrome, platinum and lithium which are on demand the world over. Extraction and exportation of these minerals has failed to transform the economy of Zimbabwe, let along improve the livelihoods of host communities. Throughout Zimbabwe, all communities endowed with mineral resources – from Marange to Hwange; from Mutoko to Beitbridge – are distressed with the failure of government to ensure communities do not only carry the burden of natural resource extraction, but also share in the profits thereof.
The 2023 independence day commemoration follows hot on the heels of the release of a 4-part series documentary by Al Jazeera which alleges money laundering and rampant smuggling of gold by state embedded actors in Zimbabwe. The documentary shows the criminal networks revealing to undercover Al Jazeera investigative journalists how they smuggle gold to Dubai and launder dirty money in Harare. The exposé also demonstrates how easy it has become to smuggle minerals out of the country through Robert Gabriel Mugabe international airport. The criminals also explain how easy it is for them to bring dirty money into Zimbabwe for laundry. The Al Jazeera documentary validates CNRG’s 2022 report titled Zimbabwe’s Disappearing Gold which highlighted the role of RBZ and some of the characters mentioned in the documentary in exploiting artisanal miners and smuggling gold. Based on the confessions made in the documentary and several reports by civil society and the media, there is prima facie evidence of state capture, criminal abuse of office and gross acts of misconduct. Further, compromising the country’s airports to facilitate organized crime puts the security of the country at risk.
Zimbabweans are now travelling to neighbouring countries, namely Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia to seek medical treatment. This is because their health sector has collapsed due to poor funding. Public funds have been looted by top government officials with no consequences. Cabinet ministers who looted public funds have not been punished, let alone asked to return the stollen funds. On the contrary they enjoy impunity, with one of them vying to be a Senator in the coming election. It is essential to highlight that corruption has victims. Every dollar that is stollen from the public purse is a service withdrawn from the general public, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Most Zimbabweans are now opting to be economic refugees in other countries because their own country has failed them.
And yet to a small, well connected political clique, independence mean freedom to loot public resources with impunity, freedom to become multi-millionaires without producing anything, freedom to engage in organised crime without being brought to justice and freedom to ensure their victims are silenced. We are equally concerned with land dispossession by the government. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have had their land offered to the Chinese, Russians and now Belarussians by the government without their knowledge nor consent. Vast swathes of land have been set aside for exploration and subsequent mining projects. Minister of Mines, Winston Chitando, has been relentlessly signing special grants over communal lands without ever engaging the people to be affected by his decisions. His actions are reminiscent of land dispossession that took place during the colonial era.
Finally, the environmental degradation unfolding in Zimbabwe due to mining has no parallel in the history of our country. Hills and indigenous forests are disappearing, agricultural lands invaded, water courses disrupted, and deep pits left open everywhere as the country continues in a self-destruct mode. Oncescenic landscapes such as Boterekwa in Shurugwi, Penhalonga hills and Premier Central Estates in Mutare have been severely degraded. Add to this mining-induced war on nature, there is climate change whose impacts are increasing in severity with each passing year. Consequently, the scale of environmental refugees is silently growing as witnessed by the ever-increasing rural urban migration amidst perennial food insecurity.
All the foregoing is eroding the meaning of independence to the ordinary citizen. Ceremonies lined up around the country merely become entertainment venues instead of spaces for rebirth of our nationhood and an affirmation of the continuity of the longevity of the Zimbabwean dream.
Thus 18th of April has long seized to be a day of celebration. Rather it has turned to be a day of reflection and soul searching on where we got it wrong and what needs to be done to get us together again as a nation. It is against this background that we call on the government to:
- Engage in open dialogue with citizens on measures that need to be put in place to revive the spirit of independence.
- Initiate inter-party dialogue with all political parties represented in Zimbabwe’s parliament and Senate for the sake of reviving people-centred governance and attainment of the vision set out by President Emerson Mnangagwa in November 2017.
- Set up an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate organized crime, corruption, and resource looting in Zimbabwe.
- Release all political prisoners and ensure every Zimbabweans enjoys their constitutional rights.
For more details please contact:
Centre for Natural Resource Governance CNRG Information department,
Email info@cnrgzim.org
Cell +263 779 078 873
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Website: https://cnrgzim.org