‘Use ICT to reduce illicit outflows’

THE government should invest in information technology to ascertain the quantity and quality of mineral resources to reduce illicit outflows of money from the country, a civil society group has said.
Zimbabwe has vast natural resources, but the country is not significantly benefiting from this finite resource due to under exploration, and most multinationals in the sector under-declare the quantity and quality of minerals.
The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) said exploration was not only critical in guaranteeing sustainability of mining activities, but also ensured that the government gets more taxes for economic development.

“The government should invest in information technology to ascertain the quantity and quality of geological deposits to curb under-declarations of quantity and quality of minerals to reduce illicit outflows of money from the country,” the organisation said.

This comes as the country has lost over US$32,179 billion to illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the last two decades and approximately US$1,5 billion in gold smuggling in 2020 against US$800 million official Fidelity exports, according to Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is pushing for a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023, which will be characterised by optimum investment and output levels in all mineral commodities.
Mines minister Winston Chitando told a recent Chamber of Mines annual mining conference that there is a need to scale up exploration activities to unlock mineral value.

He said mechanisms were being put in place to incentivise exploration activities that will unlock the discovery of more minerals.
Zimcodd said the government should prioritise joining the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to curb mineral leakages.

“As such the government should first urgently sign up to the EITI and join other nations in their efforts to curb IFFs and tax evasion and other leakages of natural resources. The promise to join the EITI by the current and two previous Ministers of Finance is long overdue and should be prioritised if the government wants to arrest the current plunder,” Zimcodd said.
Recently, Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) former general manager Fradreck Kunaka said Zimbabwe is losing 1,5 tonnes of gold every month to leakages.

Experts said a raft of cumbersome taxes, including refining and royalty payments totalling nearly 18 percent, could be one of the major reasons why people continue to smuggle out gold.
The government has since said it is working on policies aimed at preventing the leakages.
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