THE Supreme Court has dismissed Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company’s (ZCDC’s) appeal against Justice Amy Tsanga’s High Court order barring the diamond mining firm from selling gems mined from Grandwell Holdings’ concessions in Chiadzwa.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
South Africa-based Grandwell Holdings controlled the diamond claims under Mbada Diamonds, where it was a major shareholder.
Grandwell Holdings’ lawyer Sternford Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness yesterday said ZCDC’s appeal to the Supreme Court had been dismissed with costs. The appeal was before Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, Justices Bharat Patel and Chinembiri Bhunu.
“The appeal by ZCDC was dismissed by the Supreme Court and ZCDC was ordered to pay costs on a higher scale on the basis that the appeal was completely without merit,” Moyo said.
Garikai Sithole appeared for ZCDC.
ZCDC had filed an appeal to the Supreme Court under case number SC 159/2017 after the High Court had barred them from selling gems from concessions owned by Mbada Diamonds. Justice Tsanga on April 25 interdicted ZCDC and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe from collecting any gems mined from Grandwell Holdings’ diamond concessions in Chiadzwa.
Grandwell Holdings claimed it had made multi-million-dollar investments in Chiadzwa, but they were removed from their concession Mafia-style in 2016 by heavily armed policemen and their diamonds seized by ZCDC.
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Chairperson of Grandwell Holdings, David Kassel recently appeared before a Temba Mliswa chaired parliamentary portfolio committee to speak on the issue where he said he was given approval to invest and mine in Chiadzwa by former President Robert Mugabe and former Mines minister Obert Mpofu in 2009, but when consolidation of diamond mines was introduced, his diamond mine was invaded without a court order.
Kassel told the committee that the takeover of his diamond mine was done in a roguish manner to the extent that some diamond vaults with millions of carats went missing in the process.
