“Gold Mafia Episode 1: Laundry Service” will be aired on Al Jazeera TV tonight Thursday 23 March 2023, an advance version was already circulating on the social media.
There are
six take home points from Episode 1:
1) The gold smuggling was sometimes as
a foreign currency earning and sanctions busting scheme. Zimbabwe is free sell
gold and be paid in foreign currency on the international market and any problems
it faced selling gold will be the same selling diamonds or whatever. A lot of
the foreign currency used to pay for the gold in dirty money and the lack of
proper records, checks and balance have encouraged this. Corruption is rampant
and once again sanctions are being used as a feeble excuse and scapegoat.
2) The documentary producers estimated
the country gold industry was worth US$2 billion per year and 80% of is lost to
gold smugglers in which the gold mafia, the gold dealers and their political
enablers the ruling elite, rack the lion’s share of the proceeds, the middle
men and panners get small change and the state gets nothing! at all. It is what the gold dealers have been
doing with their loot that is particularly worrisome!
3) Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother (or
Pastor) Paul, a Kenyan of Indian descent, is heard boasting in the documentary
of how he helped President Arap Moi “survive” politically by using the fortune he
amassed laundering Kenya’s gold (most of which looted from DRC). He used the
looted wealth to bribe Moi’s political opponents and critics. When there was
finally regime change in Kenya, Pattni emigrated to Zimbabwe and has plied his gold
laundering services for the benefit Mugabe and now Mnangagwa. Of course, he and
his fellow gold dealers have and are playing their part in helping Zanu PF “survive”.
4) When Morgan Tsvangirai failed to
get even one meaningful democratic reform implemented in five years of the 2008
to 2013 GNU people attributed it to the MDC leaders being breathtakingly
corrupt and incompetent. Many thought they had learned their lesson especially
when the likes of Tendai Biti and David Coltart public admitted to the folly of
participating in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. But
when MDC leaders including Biti and Coltart participated in the 2018 elections
knowing fully well that doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy and
contrary to their own condemnation of the act, it was clear Zanu PF controlled
not just state institutions like ZEC and the Police but the opposition body
politic too!
5) Uebert Angel, self-proclaimed
prophet, was appointed Zimbabwe’s “First Ambassador at large, assigned to
promote Zimbabwe brand” by President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself. Al Jazeera
called him “Diplomatic Mafia” because he was offering his diplomatic bag to ferry
dirty money from one country to the next. Angel “prophesied” that Mnangagwa
would win 2018 elections and 2023 elections! This is more than just a prophesy,
it’s the gold mafia flexing their humongous financial muscle.
6) “The gold Mafia is bigger than
the government, bigger than any of the authorities,” boasted one gold dealer. As
much as leaders like Emmerson Mnangagwa would like to believe they are the ones
controlling the gold Mafia and governing Zimbabwe, it is the Mafia who are
calling the shots. Indeed one Mafia member dismissed VP Chiwenga as a “dunderhead”!
The truth is without implementing the democratic reforms first holding elections
will never deliver any meaningful political change because the Mafia will use
their financial muscle to keep the dunderheads in power.
The Al Jazeera documentary has revealed the extend of
corruption in Zimbabwe today is not only deep rooted, the rot has spread to every
segment of society, but worst of all the Mafia thugs employed by the ruling
elite to do the looting have surpassed the employers, they are now the masters.
The tail is wagging the dog and, worst of, out of spite!
CCC does not have the financial clout to match that of the gold Mafia, the power behind the Zanu PF thugs. https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-opinion-sc-columnist-byo-228937.html
ReplyDelete@ Noble Ngara
ReplyDelete“What this political novice Mukori does not realize is that there's a reason why diplomatic bags are not opened anywhere in the world! Who knows what other people are carrying in their diplomatic bags?! It's only a self- defeating attempt by the CIA to give the opposition some mud to sling at the ruling ZANU-PF. It's ironic that the documentary seems to try very hard to justify the illicit gold trade as a sanctions busting system..... So definitely sanctions have the additional negativity of corruption.”
Corruption is the cancer that is killing Zimbabwe. A nation is not a private company that can be declared bankrupt, stripped of all its assets and dissolved. A failed state will not be able to meet the basic needs of its people and many will suffer and die but the state will linger on!
Even a buffoon like Emmerson Mnangagwa realised that corruption was killing Zimbabwe and hence the reason he announced “There will be zero tolerance on corruption!” when he took over power from Mugabe in 2017. Alas, the buffoon had no clue how to stamp out corruption. He is the one who appointed Uebert Angel Zimbabwe’s “First Ambassador at large, assigned to promote Zimbabwe brand”. The man caught on camera proposing to use the diplomatic beg to carry dirty money!
So, is the Zimbabwe brand now confirmed as the world laundrette of dirty money? Zimbabwe is now the principal exporter and promoter of corruption, all conveniently transported to every corner of the world in diplomatic bags!
No wonder the country is a pariah no law abiding individual, company or nation would want to do business there, you will be paid with dirty money, if you are paid at all!
“It's only a self- defeating attempt by the CIA to give the opposition some mud to sling at the ruling ZANU-PF,” you say. The MDC had the golden opportune to implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. What makes you think Chamisa and company will do anything of note now?
The sooner Zimbabwe can implement the democratic reforms and hold free and fair elections the sooner the nation can finally escape out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF has landed us.
@ Zanda Shumba
ReplyDelete“Ngara Ma trier henyu ku defender the crooked zanu with empty words. Its growing increasingly difficult to defend the crooks party nowadays with how brazenly crooked the leaders have become. And social media keeps exposing everything compared to the concealing state controlled media of Zimbabwe.”
To nincompoops like Ngara, there is nothing wrong with being a crook, corruption, lawlessness, etc. as long as he is getting or, like most Zanu PF die-hard, forever hoping to get a share of the loot. Zimbabwe is losing 80% of the US$2 billion gold bonanza to the gold mafia and meanwhile the country cannot provide even basic services like education and health care to millions of our people. All these economic realities mean nothing to the nincompoop as long as he gets his share of the loot.
The real tragedy for Zimbabwe is the nation fell into the hands of corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF thugs, with no common sense much less vision, in 1980 the nation has paid dearly for every year the dunderheads have remained in office.
It is a great pity that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends turned out to be corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. They have wasted the many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and the twits are the ones keeping the regime in power by participating in flawed elections.
To get out of this hell-hole we must first accept that MDC/CCC leaders are now fighting in Zanu PF’s corner and fight to implement reforms ourselves. What we need is people to have the courage to admit the present system has failed and have the resolve to change it!
@ Natasha Meyer
ReplyDelete“Why were the sanctions implemented in the first place?”
Are you suggesting the sanction caused or justify the corruption and we cannot end the corruption without first lifting the sanctions?
I do not believe the sanctions caused nor justify the corruption. But even if they did, surely it is within our powers as Zimbabweans to make sure the trading in the nation’s resources is done in a transparent way with clear records kept of all transactions.
The reason why gold dealers like Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother (or Pastor) Paul, have been granted the licence to handle the nation’s gold trade is because both RBZ Governor Mangudya and State President Mnangagwa he is a crook. The licence is just a cover, most of his business activities will be strictly off the record and so too are the names of those benefiting from it.
In short there are those who are benefiting from the corruption and looting who, naturally, do not want the corruption to end who are arguing that sanctions caused corruption and we cannot end corruption without lifting the sanctions. Only village idiots will fall for that one! I for one, I am not a village idiot and dismiss the argument with the contempt it rightly deserves!
@ Rushwaya
ReplyDeleteRubbish! In the documentary Angel call her to discuss details of how the dirty money that was being promised would be brought into the country and cleaned up. Is she suggesting that Zimbabwe could only sell her gold to those with dirty money because of sanctions? The more rational explanation is that the gold was being looted, it was dirty gold, and it attracted dirty money. Neither those dealing with the gold nor those buying the gold wanted detailed records of the transactions kept - that has nothing to do with sanctions.
The nub of this gold smuggling operation is how little of the gold and foreign currency are officially and correctly accounted for. The gold business is worth US$2 billion and only 20% of it is accounted for official whilst the remaining 80% is smuggled. The same licence issued to export gold are used to export smuggled gold! The 20% is just a cover, the more of the gold and money is smuggled the greater the profits to the individual!
The Zanu PF ruling elite do not want the looting of gold, diamonds, etc. to stop because they have made tonnes of money from it. To blame the looting on sanctions is just another feeble excuse which anyone with half a brain now knows is a lie!
The Al Jazeera documentary will educate you on nature of the beast called gold looting in Zimbabwe ; this alone is worth it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaoRmNq3zo
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons Zimbabweans have blundered from pillar to post these last 43 years is ignorance. Our decisions have been based on very little information at best partly because we have a political system that does not like to educate people and partly because we have not valued education. This documentary will inform you amongst many other things!
ReplyDelete@ Team Pachedu
ReplyDeleteTeam Pachedu calls for Mnangagwa to go!
The 2017 military coup took advantage of the popular sentiment “Mugabe must go!” and they removed Mugabe plus a few others and hundreds of thousands of people went out on the street to express their heart-felt approval. It took a well for the penny to drop, the people then realised that nothing had changed because the dictatorship was still very much alive or be it under a new dictator! We must not make the same mistake!
This is not about the dictator, Mnangagwa, and a few others around him, it is about dismantling the dictatorship lock, stock and barrel. This is about getting the democratic reforms promised by the 2008 Global Political Agreement, designed to restore the individual freedoms and rights and the rule of law, finally implemented! Nothing else will do!
ED MUST GO! Removing the dictator does not necessarily end the dictatorship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTgf_7_-Vz4
ReplyDelete@ Kadzutu
ReplyDeleteThe real surprise here is that anyone out there should still think he or she can remove Zanu PF from office by going out there and "vote these bastards out!" Zanu PF is rigging these elections.
Do you really think that Zanu PF has remained in power all these years because it had not occurred to the people to vote them out? In 2008 MDC got 73% of the vote but still failed to get the keys to State House!
By participating in these flawed elections all you are doing is giving SADC leaders the excuse to grant Zanu PF legitimacy. Your totally misplace anger at Zanu PF is keeping Zanu PF in power and perpetuating the dictatorship and suffering of us all. Your stupidity is really becoming intolerable!
"One thing I like about Zanu PF punishes even those who vote for party!" Yeah but are sure these are real people or imaginary! The joke is on us, we are the once at the business end of the whip!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNmxCVVV24w
@Chris
ReplyDeleteI'm here to inform and not to compete on who is more popular! The message Zanu PF is rigging the elections and CCC is participating out of greed has made me unpopular with both Zanu PF and CCC supporters. The message is true and must be said and so I will say it, popular or not!
You have tried all manner of tricks to silence me. I have told you and will tell you again, I will only listen to reason and will never ever be silenced by village idiot. You are a village idiot who thinks that I am after cheap popularity and therefore by showing that I am not popular I will be silenced!