HIGH Court judge Justice Edith Mushore has ruled in favour
of the once exiled businessman James Makamba in a long-drawn Telecel Zimbabwe
(Pvt) Ltd share ownership battle with a war veterans organisation, Magamba
eChimurenga Housing Trust.
In the initial application, Magamba eChimurenga Housing
Trust, was claiming 24% shareholding in Empowerment Corporation (Private)
Limited, the indigenous group that owns shares in Telecel Zimbabwe.
However, in an order granted on October 18, Justice Mushore
dismissed the trust’s application with costs.“Whereupon, after reading
documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that; the
application be and is hereby dismissed with costs on an attorney client scale,”
she ruled.
Makamba and his firm, Kestrel Corporation (Private)
Limited, Empowerment Corporation (Private) Limited, Jane Mutasa, Indigenous
Business Women’s Organisation, Selpon Investments (Private) Limited, Carlton
Consultancy (Private) Limited, Harare lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa, Telecel and
former Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security minister Supa
Mandiwanzira were cited as respondents in the matter.
In its founding affidavit, the trust said the government
fostered a thrust to empower its citizens through an indigenisation economic
policy and the move allowed indigenous groups and entities to take part in the
creation of a third cellular network, which resulted in the formation of
Telecel.
“Thus, several indigenous groups and individuals, responded
to the government clarion call and empowerment drive for the upliftment of the
indigenous businesses in the telecommunications industry,” the trust said in
its court papers. It added that the companies that formed part of the business
included Kestrel Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans Association led by the late Chenjerai Hunzvi, Indigenous Business
Women’s Organisation, Leo Mugabe’s Integrated Engineering Group and Philip
Chiyangwa’s Affirmative Action Group, among other entities.
The Andrew Ndlovu-led Magamba eChimurenga had further
submitted that the indigenous groups responded to the government quest for
indigenisation of the economy in 1997 and that these acted as promoters for the
birth of the Empowerment Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, an assertion dismissed by the
court. Newsday
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