Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has reported that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is broke and relies on individuals like Simon Rudland for money to buy gold.
In episode 01 of its documentary titled Gold Mafia, Al Jazeera says Simon Rudland is connected to ZANU PF ruling elite including the late former Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo.
Rudland, who survived an assassination attempt in South Africa in 2019, has a different deal with the government.
Simon Nango, South African Airways Customer Service Agent, explained that Rudland has a contract to move gold to Dubai and get cash to Zimbabwe.
Rudland’s bags are exempted from search. They use Emirates. He has serious buyers in Dubai, Nango says.
Airport officials will be waiting for Rudland’s several couriers who fly to Dubai with gold and back to Zimbabwe with cash.
The documentary says due to sanctions on the southern African nation, importing cash is difficult and gold is one of the effective ways of dealing with that problem. Therefore, Rudland helps bust sanctions on behalf of the government.
According to Ewan Macmillan, another mafia in the Al Jazeera documentary, the Zimbabwean government does not have the money to buy gold from miners. That’s where Rudland comes in.
Rudland has money from his company, Gold Leaf Tobacco. According to Ewan Macmillan, Rudland then lends the government the money to buy gold from miners.
Rudland provides an advance payment to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which is the sole buyer, refiner and exporter of the precious metal.
Fidelity, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, buys the gold and gives it to Rudland to export.
Former Finance and Economic Development Minister, Tendai Biti, says Zimbabwe is losing approximately US$1 billion per year through smuggling and Rudland is at the centre of the operation.