Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested at Robert Mugabe International airport in October for allegedly attempting to smuggle 13 pounds of gold worth $300,000 to Dubai, Middle East.  (Wikipedia) 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested at Robert Mugabe International airport in October after six kilograms of gold was found in her possession.  Rushwaya was accused of attempting to smuggle the gold worth $300,000 to Dubai through the RMI airport.  Rushwaya denied the charges, claiming she was set-up as her bag was changed just before she left for RMI airport, according to media reports. Then it gets deeper a week later when Zimbabwe’s First Lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa, was implicated in the alleged gold smuggling racket.  The First Lady was accused of owning the gold along with her son.  First Lady Mnangagwa steadfastly denied any involvement.

“As first lady my duty is first and foremost to Zimbabwe as a nation. I serve each and every Zimbabwean whole heartedly and selflessly. I serve the interests of my nation and not any individual. I do not engage in illegal narrow minded pursuits like gold smuggling. I have no dealings nor involvement with Miss Henrietta Rushwaya of any illegal kind. I am challenging the Police through their relevant office to issue a statement. I am a strong advocate for transparency and honesty and any continued silence by the police can be misconstrued as a cover up. If there is any incriminating evidence against me I challenge the police to present it to the nation without fear or favour. If there be none I also challenge the police to say so.”

-First Lady Mnangagwa as reported in The Herald

(credit: twitter.com/mnangagwaa) Zimbabwe First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa

Zimbabwe Losing Estimated $100 Million per Month To Gold smuggling 

“Gold smuggling is a festering problem for Zimbabwe. The illicit trade is estimated to cost the state $100m each month in lost revenues”, Zimbabwe’s home affairs minister, Kazembe Kazembe said recently, as reported by AlJazeera.com.