Former President Robert Mugabe’s family business, Gushungo
Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, has been dragged to court by two Mazowe miners, who are
seeking an order to reinstate their dismissed land dispute with the former Head
of State.
The gold miners, Shepherd Nyazvigo, who is represented by
Phillip Makanya in the matter together with his co-applicant, Bright Mawonga,
recently filed a court application, seeking rescission of a default judgment
granted against them in November last year.
“In this application, the applicants (Makanya and Mawonga)
are seeking an order to set aside the dismissal of their application which was
done in default on November 12, 2018 and reinstatement of the terms of the
provisional order,” Makanya said in his founding affidavit.
According to the court papers, Makanya got embroiled in a
dispute with Gushungo Holdings after the latter, through its employees, barred
them from accessing the mining claims at Mondo 3 and 4 in Smithfield Farm in
Mazowe.
At that time Mugabe’s firm was claiming ownership of the
farm where the mining claims are located, hence it was barring the two miners
from accessing and operating on their mining claims.
However, on April 24, 2018, the two miners were granted a
provisional order by the High Court, in terms of which Gushungo Holdings was
barred from interfering with the two men’s mining operations pending the
finalisation of the dispute.
But, seven months down the line, Makanya and Mawonga did
not pursue their matter, prompting Gushungo Holdings to approach the court
seeking dismissal of the miners’ application and it was granted in default.
“The application was then dismissed in default of the
applicants on November 12, 2018. I submit that the applicants were never served
with the set down date, hence they were not aware of the hearing date,” Makanya
said.
“It is the applicant’s intention to pursue their
application so that the final order can be confirmed. The applicants, as the
holders of the rights and title to the said blocks of mine, have the right to
mine on their blocks of mine without any interference from anyone including the
respondent (Gushungo Holdings).
The case is pending. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment