KWEKWE-BASED Midkwe Minerals has been evicted from Chaka plant and Gold Mine where it has been locked in a bitter ownership wrangle with Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) over the past four years.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Midkwe Minerals, fronted by former Buhera North MP William Mutomba (Zanu PF) and Gweru businesswoman Smelly Dube was evicted from the property late last month after the Supreme Court ruled that they had no claim to the mining area.
Despite the eviction order, Midkwe Minerals represented by Dube approached the High Court through an urgent application on July 27 in a bid to challenge the Supreme Court ruling.
She argued that KCGM who had taken over Chaka Plant and mine following the Supreme Court ruling SC358/12 were doing so illegally because she had raised an appeal at the Constitutional Court.
“I am advised that in terms of the law, an appeal to the Supreme Court suspends the decision appealed against.
“This I am advised means that KCGM cannot therefore attempt to evict Midkwe from the said premises,” Dube said.
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In its opposing papers, KCGM through its general manager Emmanuel Nhamo asked the court to throw out the matter for lack of merit and urgency.
He submitted that according to Zimbabwean laws the Supreme Court is the last court of appeal and not the Constitutional Court.
He submitted that it was fatal at law for Midkwe Minerals to appeal a decision of the Supreme Court in a lower court.
“It is submitted that the issue being brought by applicant (Midkwe) is res-judicata (a matter that has been adjudicated by a competent court and may not be pursued further by the same parties). In this respect we attached a judgment of this honourable court in respect of the the plant and mining claim in question,” he submitted.
Bulawayo High Court Judge justice Nokuthula Moyo dismissed the appeal with costs on August 7 after lawyers representing Dube and Midkwe Minerals defaulted court.
