Govt Fueling Corruption In Gold Sector By Underpaying Artisanal Gold Miners: Minister Mukupe

Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Terrence Mukupe has said that the government is fueling corruption by not giving miners the full value for gold deliveries. Speaking at the CEO Africa Roundtable discussion last week Mukupe said,

The price of gold is hovering around $44 000 to $45 000 a kg. It’s clear we have got a lot of makorokozas and I can bet you my last dollar that none of these makorokozas have got bank accounts. I read some reports that there are about eight tonnes of gold that is trading in the informal market. That’s close to $300 million.

Why do we have that situation? The reason we have that situation is that the way things are structured in our country, if you were to bring your gold to us as a government we are not giving you full value. We are not giving you 100% dollars; we are forcing you to take a certain percentage in a transfer.

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