Stephen Mpofu
GOLD is undoubtedly the most precious mineral with which our Creator endowed our beautiful motherland, to swell the national coffers and fill the bellies of His sons and daughters, us Zimbabweans as a whole.
But lo and behold, what do we see happening in broad daylight and under cover of night at our border posts?
If truth be told in no uncertain terms, the precious mineral is being bled out of our country’s coffers, and out of our people’s bellies, across our national borders by day and by night.
This was confirmed earlier this week by Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Zhemu Soda while presenting his post-Cabinet media briefing.
Dr Soda said a National Anti-Corruption Strategy running from this year to 2030 prioritises prevention alongside prosecution. It provides for results-based monitoring, integration into Government budgets and workplans, and support from development partners while maintaining national ownership.
The Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, who presented the strategy as Chairperson of the Cabinet Committee on National Development Planning, identified gold smuggling as one of the critical areas requiring targeted intervention.
He said closing gaps in border management and strengthening information-sharing among Government agencies would help curb the scourge of corruption, under which unscrupulous characters fill their own bellies as if they owned the gold deposits found in various parts of Zimbabwe.
Some Zimbabweans who were kicked out of South Africa are known to be congregating in parts of Mberengwa district in the Midlands province to exploit deposits of the precious mineral. Chief Ngungumbane has reportedly ordered the panners to stop digging up river beds and carting away soil believed to contain gold, as their activities are reportedly silting up water sources used by people and livestock in the area.
The panners no doubt take their golden finds out of the country by conniving with and bribing those who mind our borders, while local communities and the country as a whole are denied the benefits of God’s golden treasure.
Ironically, the Government already has an anti-corruption squad whose task is to root out corrupt elements at border posts and within the country.
Are those charged with cleaning up dirty hearts themselves, being human, open to corruption? If so, they are serving the devil instead of fearing the wrath of God, in whose eyes corruption is an abominable sin that paves the road to hell for those who practise it.
It is known, for instance, that drugs and other substances are smuggled from East Africa through countries to the south of Zimbabwe and right up to the north. This clearly shows that some workers at our borders have dirty hands and dirty hearts.
The realisation that corruption exists at our border posts should therefore compel our Government to clean up the border areas and stamp out both corruption and smuggling.
Every gram of gold that leaves the country illegally is a clinic not built, a road not repaired and a school left without books. Gold that passes through official channels earns foreign currency and revenue for the whole nation. The gold that is smuggled enriches only a few, leaving the rest of us poorer.
Those found guilty of helping smugglers should face the full force of the law.
