Zimbabwean businesswoman receives $5000 fine over a smuggling charge

• Zimbabwean businesswoman fined $5,000 for attempting to smuggle $330,000 worth of gold.
• Henrietta Rushwaya is allegedly President Mnangagwa's niece,
• An Al Jazeera investigation reveals gold smuggling networks involved. 

A well-known businesswoman in Zimbabwe was fined $5,000 (£4,000) by a Zimbabwean court for attempting to smuggle more than $330,000 worth of gold out of the nation in her purse.

Henrietta Rushwaya also received a suspended 18-month term. Despite not being biological relatives, she is regarded as President Emmerson Mnangagwa's niece under the Shona ethnic group's traditions.

Strongly supporting the governing party, Rushwaya was apprehended in 2020 as she was preparing to board a flight to the United Arab Emirates at the main international airport in Harare, with six kilograms of gold bars in her possession.

She lacked an export authorization and said at the time that she had unintentionally picked up the wrong purse. The state now owns the gold outright, as reported by the British news platform, BBC.

Ms. Rushwaya was accused with two agents of the nation's intelligence service, but both were found not guilty owing to insufficient evidence.

After an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera journalists, she was found guilty. They claimed that individuals with connections to high-ranking government officials had transported enormous quantities of gold from Zimbabwe to the United Arab Emirates.

They alleged that fictitious invoicing networks, bribed authorities, and inactive company networks were employed. The administration declared it would launch an investigation after the documentary.

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