adminMashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
PROMINENT gold dealer, Baron Dube, has filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court challenging the government’s move to bar him from exploiting a lucrative claim in Bubi District following a recent gold rush.Last week, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development barred Dube from conducting mining operations at Shattils South Mine in Inyathi.
The ministry accused him of using fraudulent papers to extract the mineral.
The ministry then notified the police to stop Dube’s illegal activities after noting that the claim belonged to the late Elliot Ndlovu and that his widow, Ennie Moyo, now has sole ownership of the mine.
Dube, who has gained cult status among panners, was among those behind the gold rush.
According to a Notice of Urgent Application citing Ennie Moyo as the first respondent, acting Matabeleland North provincial mining director Julius Moyo as second respondent and the officer-in-charge of Inyathi Police Station as the third respondent, Dube through his lawyer, Sindiso Mazibisa of Cheda and Partners, is challenging the ministry’s decision, which he says was not procedural.
“The second respondent convened a meeting without notice to the Applicant by letter dated July 22, 2014, which meeting was scheduled for July 24, a mere 48 hours away, without requisite or reasonable notice to Applicant. In my view, the secret holding of the hearing within 48 hours to determine the alleged dispute between myself and first respondent was done in bad faith, and calculated to allow the first respondent to unlawfully exploit gold in areas falling outside her mining claim,” Dube argued.
“The decision of the second respondent was therefore not done or taken procedurally. In terms of Section 50 of the Mines and Minerals Act, the second respondent ought to have given Applicant 30 days’ notice before deciding to cancel my certificate or interfering with
Applicant’s rights to peg the mine. In fact, the same Act goes on to state that the second respondent ought to have served Applicant at the address kept at their offices and therefore, there was no service of the service of the notice upon Applicant as required in the Act.”
Dube said during the lifetime of the first respondent, Moyo’s husband (Elliot Ndlovu), “they made certain developments on their mining claim, including shafts and housing structures, and that area is clearly not within the areas that I have paid for pegging”.
He said some “unknown persons” were now exploiting his mining claims on the basis of an article published in the Chronicle of July 31 stating that the ministry had ordered him to stop mining activities at the claim.
“Currently there is massive exploitation and exploration being done at the mine, which mine is registered in Applicant’s name. The Applicant has been barred from accessing the same,” Dube said.
He also claimed that he stood to lose out in gold ore adding that more than 8kg of gold has been extracted through the use of gold detectors in contravention of the Environmental Management Agency standards.
Dube is also seeking a court interdiction barring Moyo from conducting any mining activities pending the resolution of the matter.
“Having invested money and time on identifying and pegging the areas, that is paying the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development fees and $500 per claim to the pegger, it is undesirable that Applicant and the first respondent on an interim basis be interdicted from conducting any gold detection or mining activities pending the resolution of any dispute as set out in the attached paperwork,” said Mazibisa.
“The applicant has established a prima facie right that deserves the protection of this court and I humbly submit that the Applicant is deserving of such relief.”
The ministry’s position follows a complaint that was lodged to it by Moyo.
Ministry officials summoned both parties for a hearing on July 24 at 2PM, but only Moyo turned up.
In a letter written to the officer-in-charge of Inyathi Police Station, a ministry official who signed his name as H Mutisi on behalf of acting Matabeleland North provincial mining director, police were asked to assist Ennie to have access to her deceased husband’s mining claim without any disturbances from Dube and his partners.
On the July 22, 2014, Ennie complained that Dube was illegally working on her deceased husband’s mine.
The letter said it was discovered that papers that Dube was using on the Bubi mine were not for that claim.
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