ZANU PF bigwigs Andrew Langa and Naison Kutshwekhaya Ndlovu have reportedly been sucked in a mine ownership wrangle after they allegedly elbowed out a Filabusi couple from their mine and took over its operations, it has been learnt.
PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
It is understood the two Zanu PF politicians were sucked into the mine wrangle after an Israeli national used a fraudulent High Court order to wrest the mine from the couple and then giving their shareholding in Trianic Mining and Milling Company to the politicians.
Langa is the Sports, Arts and Culture minister and Zanu PF Matabeleland South provincial chairman while Kutshwekhaya Ndlovu is former Senate Deputy President of the Seventh Parliament.
Nqobile Khumalo and Francisca Mufambi filed a notice with the Supreme Court in Harare on January 21, 2014 challenging the authenticity of the High Court order (HC3542/11) through which Trianic Investments’ directorship was allegedly fraudulently changed.
Khumalo and Mufambi’s shares in the mine (32%) were subsequently split among Langa, who is also Insiza Zanu PF MP (10%), Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu (5%), Filabusi councillor Sikholwethu B Ngwenya (10%) and Oliver Chikarara (7%).
The other shareholders are Reouven Meyer Dray, Avi Habot (both from Israel), with 44% and 5% respectively, and Dorcas Tiwaringe (4%), while the Employee Share Ownership Scheme and the Community Share Ownership Scheme hold 5% and 10% respectively.
“Our clients own a mine in Insiza Rural District Council called Trianic Investments (Private) Ltd. However, they were muscled out of their mine by the Member of Parliament of the area, Mr Langa, and colleagues, who have since made themselves directors of the company,” read the notice filed by Mugiya and Macharaga Legal Practitioners.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Khumalo and Mufambi were served with a provisional order allegedly obtained at the Bulawayo High Court on December 7, 2011 by the Deputy Sheriff for Filabusi and, subsequently, by the Deputy Sheriff for Bulawayo who told them to disregard the first order.
“Our client (Khumalo) went to Bulawayo High Court so that he could peruse and photocopy the file relating to that order, but the file could not be located. In fact, the case number (HC3542/11) was allocated to a different case altogether, which is a matrimonial case,” the lawyers argued.
Another check was made at the court on January 16, 2014, where the lawyers established that the file did not exist in the system and was not even registered in the Registrar’s Index.
According to the High Court provisional order, Justice Nicholas Ndou dissolved the directorship of Khumalo and Mufambi and ordered them to pay $4 000 and not to interfere with operations of the mine. They were also interdicted from exercising their signing powers with the company’s Agribank and Stanbic Bank accounts.
According to the court documents, in July 2011, Khumalo was introduced to Dray and Habot, who declared their interest in mining and subsequently established a joint venture.
Khumalo hired one Msindo Ncube to do the pegging and the latter was paid $2 000 by Dray. He then secured accommodation for the two Israelis at Langa’s Inyanda Lodge before introducing them to each other.
Khumalo then contracted the Environment Management Agency to do an Environmental Impact Assessment for (EIA) $4 200. The stampmill parts were delivered to the site, houses for staff constructed and electricity and water connected.
Khumalo, however started having disputes with the Israelis after they accused him of inflating the invoice of pegging the mine from $200 to $2 000 and that of EIA from $2 000 to $5 000.
Khumalo, who insisted he did not inflate the figures, sought Langa’s assistance. The minister advised him to agree to a buyout offer by the Israelis, but he rejected it, after which he received the High Court provisional order dissolving Mufambi’s and his directorship.
He alleged that Langa then confronted him over the Israelis’ arrest when he returned to Filabusi and accused him of engaging the Ministry of Youth without having spoken to him.
The Israelis were later released and continued work at the mine. Langa is said to have had a meeting with Vision Sithole, Khumalo’s lawyer, and ordered him not to represent him, after which he engaged another lawyer, Lison Ncube.
Ncube subsequently discovered that Sithole had filed a Notice of Withdrawal at the High Court without his instructions.
He, however, advised Khumalo that it was going to be difficult to win the case since it now involved a senior politician.
When he went back to the Ministry of Youth, he was shown documents showing that the company ownership had been changed and there was a letter purportedly written by Langa in which the minister confirmed he was working with the Israelis.
