THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has approached the High Court seeking to compel Marange Diamonds to settle a $118 121 electricity bill debt.
BY CHARLES LAITON
ZETDC is a government-controlled power utility parastatal while Marange Resources is owed by another State entity, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
According to ZETDC, in its declaration filed under case number HC8726/15, Marange Resources allegedly started defaulting paying the electricity bills sometime in November 2013 despite its promise to settle the bills on a monthly basis.
“Defendant (Marange) breached the agreement from November 2013 and started to accrue an unpaid electricity bill. Defendant continued to consume electricity without settling its arrears,” ZETDC said.
“Despite admitting the debt and making a payment plan, the defendant did not settle its indebtedness as is clear from annexure ‘A’ (that), as at 12th August 2015, defendant was now indebted to plaintiff (ZETDC) in the sum of $118 121, 62.”
In May last year, Marange Resources acting chief executive officer Mark Mabhudhu made an updated payment plan after admitting owing the power utility $80 165 then.
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Mabhudhu said the diamond firm was able to settle the debt in three months’ time after paying an initial deposit of $20 000 towards the settling of the bill.
“Marange Resources has not been able to pay its obligations on time as per the payment plan dated 31 March 2014 due to the protracted delays in receipt of proceeds from the Dubai sale, which we continue to await,” Mabhudhu said.
However, in September last year, Mabhudhu again wrote to ZETDC suggesting yet another payment plan and this time the debt had ballooned to $118 751, 53.
“Kindly note that our instalment scheduled for September 2014 is likely to be delayed because the whole Zimbabwean sale tender process in Belgium has been affected by a court order, at the instance of Amani Platinum, which has resulted in all the diamond parcels being placed under judicial management,” Mabhudhu said.
After realising that the gem firm was not making any effort to settle the debt, on August 13 this year ZETDC wrote a final letter of demand to the company which was subsequently followed by the court summons. The matter is now pending in court.
