ZANU-PF out to make most of Zimbabwe gold strike

The ruling ZANU-PF party is promising to parcel out the rich claim, near the central town of Kwekwe, to youths in a bid to buy votes for the frail president ahead of elections he is determined to stage this year.

However, the real beneficiaries will be the party heavyweights who control the mining industry, say analysts and the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Locals in the Sherwood Block area found the gold shortly after Christmas. The leader of an apostolic sect, Clifford Sibanda, says he saw the exact site of the gold in a vision. News of the discovery of nuggets worth £26,000 spread like wildfire and thousands began flocking to the claim.

The police moved in 11 days ago, using water cannon and dogs to seal off the area in scenes reminiscent of the clampdown at the now-infamous Chiadzwa diamond fields in 2008.

Panners stampeded to buy ZANU-PF party cards after a local party official, Owen Ncube, said only party members could prospect there.

“Those that are not known within the party will not have access,” he told a rally. At least 3,500 cards were sold in two days last week, and on Sunday, 600 “specially-vetted” panners were allowed into the fields under guard.

The decision to officially allow the panners in was taken by Mugabe’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), the shadowy military outfit that controls Mugabe’s election strategy and was behind violence when he lost the first round of polls to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in March 2008.

Sources say JOC is chaired by defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa during Mugabe’s now frequent absences. Mnangagwa is widely seen as a possible successor to Mugabe, his candidacy strengthened by the death in a house fire last August of his main rival, ex-army commander Solomon Mujuru.

“Whatever they [the panners] find – they’ll have to release the majority to the guys controlling [the gold field],” says Eddie Cross, MDC policy director, yesterday.

The Kwekwe and nearby Kadoma areas are “exceptionally rich in gold, even by world standards”, a geologist told The Scotsman this week. Mines minister Obert Mpofu, who describes himself as Mugabe’s “ever-obedient son” has sent his own geologists to investigate. “It seems the gods are smiling on Zimbabwe,” boasted the pro-Mugabe Chronicle in an editorial.

The real owners of the claim have been left fuming. Former ZANU-PF official George Makombe says his claim pre-dates the rush. “We have been barred from our mine so that some members of ZANU-PF can loot gold with impunity,” Makombe told local paper Newsday.

Cross said the mines ministry “will fabricate some justification” to permanently take over the claim, as they did with the Chiadzwa claim, which was registered to the London-listed African Consolidated Resources.