LAWYERS representing Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) have said one of the company directors has gone missing amid fears he could have been arrested by immigration officials on Monday.
Report by Blessed Mhlanga
KCGM technical director Tevi Paji, who was detained at Hwahwa Prison from last Thursday over allegations that he was an illegal immigrant from Zambia, was allegedly taken in hours after his release following a High Court order on Monday, his lawyers have said.
Lawyer Valentine Mutatu said his client was jailed on August 28 and illegally detained for more than 48 hours in violation of the Constitution, at Hwahwa Prison over allegations that he was illegally in Zimbabwe.
“Despite several presentations before the immigration officers that Paji is not Zambian, but a Zimbabwean, immigration officials illegally caused his detention at Hwahwa Prison, forcing us to file an urgent High Court application,” Mutatu said.
The application was heard by judge Justice November Mtshiya at the Harare High Court, who ordered the immediate release of Paji from detention.
“Justice Mtshiya agreed that Paji’s rights were being violated following more than 48-hour-long detention and ordered that he be released, but just after his release he was abducted by suspected immigration officials who whisked him away and up to now we do not know where he is,”he said.
Paji was heavily involved in the legal battle pitting KCGM and Midkwe Minerals over the control of gold-rich Chaka Mine and a gold processing plant some 5km outside Kwekwe.
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Midkwe Minerals, owned by William Mutomba and Gweru-based partner Smelly Dube, lost the battle for Chaka Plant and Mine to KCGM on Monday at the Supreme Court.
Lawyers representing Paji insisted that their client is Zimbabwean and only being victimised for the role he played in blocking the illegal mine grab by Midkwe Minerals.
Mutomba’s partner, Dube, grabbed the lime-light when she donated a newly-built and fully furnished house in Mkoba suburb to President Robert Mugabe early this year, months after hosting a lavish birthday bash for Mugabe in Gweru.
