Zimbabwe protests gold sales (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Zimbabwe joins protests over IMF, British gold sale plans
Date: Fri Jul 16 06:40:16 CDT 1999

   HARARE, July 16 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's Chamber of Mines on Friday joined
growing protests by gold producers over the decision by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of England to sell gold reserves.
   A statement by chief executive David Murangari said the move, which has
triggered a plunge in the price of gold, threatened 30,000 jobs in Zimbabwe
and could have a "devastating" effect on the economy.
   He dismissed the IMF's suggestion that money from the sale of gold
reserves would help debt relief in the world's most indebted countries,
saying it would instead "aggravate and frustrate genuine efforts for
development".
   Murangari said poor countries would "benefit more sensibly by development
of recently discovered large gold deposits in some of them," rather than
from IMF handouts which would perpetuate a dependency syndrome.
   He said the Bank of England's decision to dispose of a first lot of 25
tonnes of gold "has certainly exacerbated the plight of all gold producers
to the extent of threatening the economies of Southern African countries and
others in the rest of Africa and the world."
   South Africa's Chamber of Mines has already protested strongly over the
gold sales, saying they threaten 80,000 jobs. Overnight, workers at a South
African mine began a strike against anticipated layoffs, while delegates
from that country have gone to London to lobby against the sales, as well as
seeking to raise support in west African countries.
   The new president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, warned this week at the
Organisation of African Unity summit in Algiers that further auctions could
"destroy the gold producers."
   The gold price has fallen over 10 percent since May and sank to a fresh
20-year low this week, opening at 254.50 dollars an ounce in Johannesburg on
Thursday.
   The Zimbabwean Chamber of Mines said that between the announcement of the
gold sale plan by the IMF in March and June 30, the drop in the gold price
cost the industry 159 million Zimbabwe dollars (4.2 million US dollars).
   "Although no mines have as yet closed down, funding for exploration and
development of new mineral deposits has stopped. This has resulted in a
number of people losing jobs.
   "The survival of the gold mining sector is now threatened. This sector
alone produced 5 billion Zimbabwe dollars or nearly 50 percent of total
mineral production in 1998.
   "Further, nearly 30,000 direct jobs are at stake and the lives of about
150,000 other Zimbabwean dependents are also going to be affected."
   Murangari said mining in total contributes about 35 percent of foreign
currency earnings in Zimbabwe, where the economy is already shaky with rates
of unemployment and inflation running at more than 50 percent.