Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya has been arrested on allegations related to an undisclosed mining transaction. The police, however, have chosen not to disclose any details until her court appearance.
On Tuesday evening, Rushwaya was in custody, cooperating with the ongoing investigations.
Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the national police spokesperson, confirmed the arrest to The Herald: He said:
We can confirm that Henrietta Rushwaya is assisting police with investigations following a report made by a certain complainant about a purported mining transaction. So far investigations are in progress and these are the details we can release as of now.
In November 2023, Rushwaya was fined US$5 000 by High Court judge, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda following her conviction for attempting to smuggle gold worth US$330 000 to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
She was caught red-handed with the precious stones stashed in her handbag at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in 2020.
Justice Kwenda ordered Rushwaya to pay a US$5 000 fine failure of which she will spend 12 months in jail.
In addition, the judge slapped Rushwaya with 18 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for three years on the condition she does not commit a similar offence during the same period.
Giving his reasons for the lenient sentence, Justice Kwenda said there was no evidence to suggest that Rushwaya was a hardcore criminal.
In February 2012 Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested on allegations of bribery and match-fixing linked to the Asiagate scandal.
She appeared in court facing 11 counts of concealing transactions from a principal, two counts of fraud and 15 others of bribery involving US$1 million.
Rushwaya was a central figure in the Asiagate scandal, where she was identified as the “core central point” in a match-fixing network involving referees, players, and journalists.
