Gold Miner Approaches Constitutional Court To Overturn Supreme Court Ruling

A gold mining company in Mudzi has asked the Constitutional Court to overturn a recent Supreme Court ruling against it. The company claims the ruling was a violation of property rights and points to a number of issues with the handling of the case.

The case was brought by businessman Prosper Machekera, who was declared the owner of Radnor 58 in the recent judgement. The mining company, Milmath Security Private Limited, argues that the Supreme Court ruling violated its right to a fair hearing. Read court papers:

The basic of the application is that on March 10, 2023, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe handed down an order which violates the applicant’s fundamental rights and freedoms namely, the right to property, the right to a fair hearing and the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.

The judgment upholds a High Court judgment which deprives the applicant of its property, namely gold claims, for no reason.

The High Court judgment also reviews the forfeiture of the first respondent’s base mineral claims, which took place in 2007 in the absence of an application for review and in violation of the right to a fair hearing.

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Radnor 58 owns disputed gold claims in the Makaha area of Mudzi, Mashonaland East province. The case involves the provincial mining commissioner, Mines minister Winston Chitando, permanent secretary, and chief mining commissioner as respondents and has been ongoing for years.

Milmath Security Private Limited is arguing that the Supreme Court ignored the evidence and arguments presented by the applicant and based its decision on its own grounds of appeal. This violated the applicant’s right to a fair hearing. The High Court also granted relief to the respondent that was not mentioned in their papers, which violated the applicant’s fundamental rights, including the right to a fair hearing and equal protection under the law. By upholding this decision, the Supreme Court also violated the Constitution.

The company claimed that the judgment did not address the issue of mining coordinates for three mining blocks, which were awarded in the High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court. However, these blocks are located three kilometres away from the disputed location, as defined by the undisputed coordinates on court records.

In his affidavit opposing the mining company’s application, Machekera claimed that the disputed gold claims belong to him, as previously ruled by the courts. He argued that he has been the holder of the mining rights since 2005 and that the applicant cannot make a valid claim to them. Madziwanzira, in his answering affidavit, maintained that the courts granted Machekera the gold claims that were forfeited.

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