A union of Zimbabwean small-scale gold miners has "unanimously" reelected their president, two weeks after she was fined $5,000 for attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold worth $300,000 to Dubai.

The Herald wrote on December 5 that the Zimbabwe Miners Federation’s (ZMF) provincial chairpersons met on November 24 and renewed Henrietta Rushwaya’s five-year mandate saying her “success in leading the small-scale gold sector” had earned her “due recognition” to continue at the helm.

Rushwaya, in the traditions of their Shona ethnic group, is considered President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s niece.

ZMF technical representative Chris Murove described her as an “economic freedom fighter” who has made a mark “fighting for the liberation” of artisanal and small-scale gold miners.

He said although Rushwaya was convicted of trying to smuggle gold out of the country, the bullion was hers. The union, he added, will petition President Mnangagwa to grant her a presidential pardon.

Murove said she was merely “accompanying” the gold to Dubai, which was going to be its final destination anyway even if she had submitted it to Fidelity Gold Refiners, a central bank unit which is the sole legitimate buyer and exporter of the metal.

As a result of Rushwaya’s case, “restrictive laws should be reviewed and amended such that possession of gold is de-criminalised and those who produce and own gold can freely move with it within and out of the country, subject to specific provisions that ensure that in the case of taking or exporting it outside the country, the value of it will be remitted back into the country within a certain period,” he added.

Rushwaya was busted on the VIP route at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital on October 26, 2020, with the bullion in her hand luggage. She attempted to defend herself in court saying she took the "wrong" bag containing the contraband but she was convicted on November 1, 2023 and sentenced nine days later. 

Rushwaya is one of a number of high-profile figures who were secretly filmed by undercover Al Jazeera journalists disclosing how they can assist in illegal gold transactions. 

The documentary, Gold Mafia, aired in April 2023, also features a Pentecostal pastor, Uebert Angel, who also claims to be close to Mnangagwa. He is seen on camera saying he could facilitate the laundering of cash by buying gold in the country and smuggling it.

Rushwaya told The Herald that the changes she brought to the ZMF since her first election in 2018 is the reason why the entity “still want me to continue with the work we started as a team, hence am back again.”