Since sanctions were removed from Zimbabwe in March 2024, the Reserve Bankβs Fidelity Printers and Refineries (FPR) should have reverted to being the only entity allowed to export our gold. This would ensure that 10% royalties are paid on all gold when prices are above $5,000 per ounce, while the Reserve Bank pays producers 30% of their revenue in local currency to retain much-needed foreign currency, leaving more value β about 15% of total exports β in government coffers.
However, our gold continues to be flown out of the country on private jets without passing through Fidelity. This robs the state of about 15% in fees and deprives it of a critical mechanism to generate more foreign reserves from raw mineral exports. As a consequence, the nation perpetually suffers from foreign currency shortages.
In 2025 our government announced that Zimbabwe exported $1.9 billion worth of gold. Meanwhile, Dubai and Rand Refinery declared more than $8 billion worth of gold imports from Zimbabwe during the same period. These illicit flows of wealth out of the country are a result of private individuals exporting gold instead of Fidelity.
This was not an issue when Zimbabwe was under sanctions because Fidelity, as a government entity, could not export gold and receive US dollar transfers due to the fact that US banks were prohibited from clearing payments to Zimbabwean government institutions.
Nonetheless, since 4 March 2024, Zimbabwean government institutions were removed from sanctions. Consequently, Fidelity should revert to being the only institution exporting our gold, while MMCZ should be the sole exporter of our minerals, to prevent government losses through under-invoicing and transfer pricing. This is the very reason these institutions were established in the first place.
One major reason President Mnangagwa stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that sanctions on the government were removed in 2024, is to provide himself and his cronies with cover to continue smuggling gold without taking it through the Reserve Bank. Yet the very reason the President was placed under Magnitsky sanctions, is because the Americans accuse him of corruption in the form of gold and diamond smuggling, as well as serious human rights abuses, which we are now witnessing due to CAB3.
Another major issue is that Fidelity possesses state-of-the-art gold refining equipment that enables it to produce world-grade bullion. However, in 2009 it lost its membership in the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) after producing less than the required 10 tonnes per year. This resulted in Fidelity losing its LBMA bullion-grade certification.
But instead of Mnangagwa pushing for Fidelity to rejoin the LBMA since sanctions were removed β to enable Fidelity to begin producing certified gold bullion that Zimbabwe could sell directly on the market without relying on a Dubai refinery, or more critically, use it as collateral in foreign banks to secure loans worth up to ten times the value of the gold in order to pay our debts β and instead of positioning Zimbabwe to refine gold from Congo, Zambia, and the 48 other African countries that donβt have refineries to earn the massive smelting profits generated during the Chidzero and Tsimba era, the Mnangagwa administration chose not to re-register Fidelity with the LBMA.
As a result, the nation is losing out on gold smelting revenues, royalties, and gold-backed loans that could be used to repay sovereign debt, drive infrastructure projects, and strengthen the balance of payments.
The reason the President does not want Fidelity to rejoin the LBMA is because his family is now among the top three largest gold producers in Zimbabwe, and by exporting gold directly to Dubai without going through Fidelity, they pocket over 15% profit of the royalties and avoiding to remit the 30% foreign currency to the Reserve Bank.
These are some of the reasons why I say no to 2030. Our President doesnβt want another two years to fix Zimbabwe, he wants to be a life President to continue this gold smuggling scheme.
Written by Rutendo Matinyarare Chairman of ZASM.
