The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has issued a strong warning to individuals and institutions found in possession of gold without the required permits or licences, stating that violators will be arrested and prosecuted in line with the Gold Trade Act and regulations under the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
The warning follows the recent arrest and conviction of Joseph Phiri, who was found in possession of 3,118 grams of gold without proper documentation. He was sentenced to five years in prison, and the gold was forfeited to the State.
While the ZRP is simply enforcing the existing regulations, there is a growing consensus that Zimbabwe’s gold laws require urgent reform to suit the current mining environment.
A follower on the Mining Zimbabwe Facebook page encouraged the lobbying of the removal of the law, which they labelled oppressive.
“We should lobby for the removal of such oppressive laws. We are Zimbabweans, and it is our gold. So are we saying there is no makorokoza, isn’t?. Who are the major producers of yellow metal?.
“Iyi haichafanira kuva mhosva iyi. Maybe dai mati ukabatwa uchida kubuditsa munyika.bt also reserve gold mining only to citizens, period and not negotiable,” translated “This should no longer be a crime. Maybe if you were caught trying to export it to the country. BT also reserves gold mining only to citizens, period and not negotiable,” another said among over 50 comments made minutes after we posted the ZRP Press release on Facebook, which is our biggest platform.
The law that the ZRP is enforcing was crafted at a time when formal mining houses dominated production and artisanal mining barely existed.
In a country that has gold in every district, and with the majority of a total of 1.5 million artisanal miners being unregistered, it may be time to re-examine this law to suit modern-day gold mining, which is heavily dominated by Artisanal and small-scale miners.
