The diamond deals involve the output from the Marange fields taken over by force in late 2008 and the gold deals involve the production of perhaps as much as 10 tonnes a year from small-scale miners. By my own estimates, the diamond sales run to as much as $4 billion a year. The Minister of Mines admitted $2 billion in 2011 and it must be at least double that.
Gold – $500 million
Gold sales must be running at $500 million a year. Nearly all of these revenues disappear. The diamonds are flown out of the country and gold finds its way to the Rand Refinery in Johannesburg, where we now contribute 70 per cent of its turnover. Once refined, the gold disappears.
Fuel – $180 million
A state monopoly importing liquid fuels siphoned off at least 10 cents a litre on fuel imports – all of it banked outside the country. On imports of 150 million litres a month this was $15 million or $180 million a year.
NSSA – $3 billion
Then there was NSSA – collecting 6 per cent of the salaries of all workers for their pensions and workers compensation. This was worth at least $200 million a year. When we took it over in 2009, there was less than $200 million in assets left in the Fund, accumulated over the previous 23 years; some $3 billion in workers social savings had disappeared.
Post published in: News