Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister Obert Mpofu is due to face court action for allowing the sale of diamonds mined at the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields in the eastern region of the country, in defiance of a Supreme Court order which barred the sale of stones.
African Consolidated Resources (ACR) is the title holder of the Chiadzwa claim and has lodged legal papers against Mpofu for violating the Supreme Court order. The order was issued earlier this year as a consequence of the ownership dispute between ACR and the government approved companies mining the site.
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) is a government owned firm which conjoined with Mbada Mining and Canadile Mining. This group was licensed to mine the Chiadzwa diamond site after it was apprehended in 2006 from the UK-based ACR. However 2009 saw the first High Court ruling in their favour which led to ACR becoming involved in a legal battle over ownership of the mine.
An appeal of this High Court decision was made by the ZMDC and Mines Minister Mpofu, resulting in the Supreme Court ordering for the suspension of all mining operations until the dispute was settled. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku decreed that although the ZMDC are in physical control of the claims, “they must cease all mining activities and it is so ordered.” He ruled that “allowing applicants (ZMDC) to continue mining, pending appeal, has the potential of causing irreparable damage to the respondents (ACR) should the appeal fail.”
In spite of this, mining has continued, with a multi-million dollar auction of the stones launched in Harare last month. ACR now wants Mpofu to face High Court action for allowing the sales and has filed a court action against him. ACR is also adamant that the High Court to throw out the appeal made by Mpofu concerning Chiadzwa’s legal ownership.
A section of the argument filed by ACR’s legal team states: “As a government minister he has a legal and moral duty to see to it that orders of (the High Court) and of the Supreme Court are obeyed and see to it that the integrity of (the courts) is protected, by not openly and publicly acting in defiance of a court order.”