Zimbabwe mining official took gold bars by ‘accidentally picking up wrong handbag’

Gold bars (file photo)

Credit: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

A senior Zimbabwean mining official accused of trying to smuggle gold bars out of the country has told a court that it happened because she packed the wrong handbag for the trip.

Henrietta Rushwayo, president of Zimbabwe’s Miners’ Federation, was stopped last week with 6.9 kg of gold as she tried to board a plane to Dubai.

Seeking bail at Harare Magistrate’s Court, her legal team told the court she packed her clothes in a similar bag at home but mistakenly took one filled with gold bars instead.

Her lawyer, Tapson Dvetero, told the court: “The wrong bag was put into her vehicle and she did not have the knowledge of its contents when she took it to the Robert Mugabe International Airport.”

Ms Rushwayo, who is distantly related to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, was among several prominent locals arrested in connection with the gold.

Also held were the president’s security aide, Stephen Tserai, a senior intelligence official, Raphios Murandaya, and Ali Muhammad, a Harare-based Pakistani businessman who exports second-hand cars across Africa.

Mr Karanda was charged by police with falsifying evidence, after being accused of telling investigators that the gold found in Mrs Rushwayo’s handbag belonged to First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and her son Collins.

There are about 400,000 informal gold miners in Zimbabwe operating nationwide. Much of what they mine is exported illegally via neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique, and also sometimes to Dubai.

Ms Rushwayo’s lawyer told the court that as a professional gold buyer, his client had a permit from the state’s gold company, Fidelity Printers and Refiners, allowing her to be in possession of gold.