Court gags media from naming politician in gold scam

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By Mduduzi Mathuthu
24/03/04
A ZIMBABWE magistrate has shocked the legal fraternity by gagging the Press and ordering that the name of a top Zanu PF politician implicated in a multi-million dollar gold scam be expunged from court papers.

But New Zimbabwe.com today names that politician as Speaker of Parliament and Zanu PF secretary for administration Emmerson Mnangagwa who was until this week tipped to succeed President Mugabe.

Harare magistrate Virginia Sithole consented to a bizarre request by lawyers defending Mark Mathew Burden that a paragraph which names Mnangagwa as a beneficiary of illegal gold dealing be blackened out.

The state-owned Herald newspaper ran with the story on its front page but omitted naming Mnangagwa.

Readers of the paper were left guessing as the magistrate also barred any reference to his position that could lead the public to identify him.

The magistrate said reference to Mnangagwa was irrelevant and according to the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, no irrelevant evidence may be led.

"The Press is not to publish contents of paragraph 19, or anything from the deleted paragraph," she said.

However State attorneys argued that they could prove Mnangagwa was a beneficiary of illegal gold dealing by Burden.

"This is information which emerged from investigations. The State can lead evidence that payment was made. Therefore, we see no basis having the paragraph expunged," State counsel Gerald Butaumocho said.

But the defence lawyers for Burden came out fighting, saying they “took offence” at the state outline which names Mnangagwa.

"The offending paragraph is paragraph 19,” said defence lead lawyer George Chikumbirike. “It is our submission that the evidence is inadmissible and totally irrelevant. That evidence does not have any link at all to the 46 charges against accused.”

”It was not necessary for accused to explain why he wrote a cheque to a particular individual. It smacks of mere sensationalism. The court should not allow that to occur," said Chikumbirike.

After the magistrate ordered the paragraph to be blanked out, questions were being asked in legal circles why Mnangagwa wasn’t being dragged to court to explain the cheques bearing his name and signed by Burden.

Said one legal expert: “It would appear the police and the prosecutors know a crime has been committed, but they are scared to charge Mnangagwa. It seems they wanted the accused to implicate Mnangagwa in court before they could act. It’s a shambles.”

Mnangagwa was first named in illegal gold dealing late last year by the Zimbabwe Independent. But the paper’s journalists were later threatened with death by Mnangagwa’s side kicks.

The paper went with accusations brought by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change MP for Kwekwe Blessing Chebundo who said Mnangagwa had gold gangs who recruited gold panners from whom he bought gold.

At the time, Chebundo named three men - identified as retired army major Makombe, a Chipinda and Owen Mudha Ncube - as fronts for the politician touted as President Mugabe's preferred successor.

"The three recruit gold panners from whom they buy the gold," Chebundo told the Independent in December.

"It is well known that they are fronts for Mnangagwa. Gold panning has been allowed to go on as a campaign tool by the ruling party. The three frontmen and gold panners claim they have protection from senior officials in the party," he said.

But Mnangagwa denied any involvement in gold dealings. "That is not true, it's political smearing. I am not involved and I am not stupid," said an angry Mnangagwa.

"Just publish that and I will sue him. Go ahead, write that and I will deal with him accordingly. He has been saying that for some time now," said Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa said the three alleged frontmen had been arrested and police found no link with him.

Burden who faces 46 counts of illegal gold dealing pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Outlining the prosecution case, Butaumocho said Burden, who is the owner of Ivan Hoe Mine and eight other gold milling plants in the Midlands city of Kwekwe, has been dealing in gold since 2000.

He said Burden would buy gold at the parallel market rate after milling gold ore from various people.

In October and November 2003, detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department at Harare Central Police Gold Squad received information that Burden was buying gold at a price higher than the one offered by Fidelity Printers and Refineries.

Fidelity Printers is the sole legal buyer of gold produced in Zimbabwe.

The State alleges that this meant that Burden was not going to sell his gold to Fidelity Printers as he would incur losses and it was suspected that he was externalising the gold.

On November 11 last year, the State alleges, a team of detectives from Harare travelled to Kwekwe to investigate the allegations at Burden’s mine and other surrounding mines and milling plants in the town.

After a search at his mine, it is alleged, it was discovered that there was 2,416kg of gold, 863,5 grammes and 5,0 grammes of smelted gold button in his safe. Additional reporting by the Zimbabwe Independent, The Herald.
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