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Leonard Ncube Court Reporter
CHIEF Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku yesterday lambasted a lawyer who failed to make submissions in a case where he was representing a Kwekwe gold mine.The lawyer, who only gave his name as Mr Rungwanda, was representing Midkwe Minerals Private Limited, which had appealed to the Supreme Court against its eviction from a mine co-owned by Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines Private Limited and Carslone Enterprises Pvt Ltd.
Chief Chidyausiku was sitting with judge of appeal Justice Vernanda Ziyambi and acting judge of appeal Justice Martin Makonese when Mr Rungwanda, of a Harare law firm, James Makiya Legal Practitioners sought a postponement of the case, saying he was not privy to the contents of the application.
He told the court that he was standing in for his senior partner, Mr Lewis Uriri, who he said could not attend court because he was committed with family business.
“You should make inquiries before you come to court. That is what we expect counsels to do. The court cannot be stopped because a person is attending to family business, it has to be an emergency like death,” said Chief Justice Chidyausiku before adjourning.
When the court resumed later in the day Chief Justice Chidyausiku, now sitting with Justice Ziyambi and acting judge of appeal Justice Andrew Mutema, who had replaced Justice Makonese, dismissed Mr Rungwanda’s application for postponement.
This was after Mr Sindiso Shepherd Mazibisa representing the respondents in the matter, Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines and Carslone Enterprises submitted that Midkwe Minerals Pvt Ltd was seeking to postpone the matter because it had nothing to lose as it was benefiting from his clients’ premises.
Mr Mazibisa said one of the directors of the two mines had been arrested to delay the matter and argued that further delay was an abuse of the court and was prejudicial to the respondents’ rights.
Mr Mazibisa was being assisted by Mr Valentine Mutatu of Mutatu and Partners in Kwekwe.
Mr Rungwanda was asked to make submissions on his client’s appeal but failed saying he had not read the file.
“The very unfortunate part is that I was given the file on Saturday and I have not read it,” he said.
That courted the ire of the bench.
“What are you to this case and court? You are saying you have not read the file, you think this is a kangaroo court where you just come empty handed? So you cannot raise any questions on the application?” said Chief Justice Chidyausiku.
Justice Ziyambi also warned Mr Rungwanda against taking a properly constituted court for granted.
“When you come to us you should be prepared and it is not always that the court concedes to applications,” she said.
Mr Rungwanda was also asked to explain the legal relationship between Midkwe Minerals Pvt Ltd and Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines but failed to do so.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku then dismissed Midkwe’s appeal with costs and said he will give reasons later.
Mr Rungwanda left the court in haste after the ruling and refused to talk to this reporter who had asked for his full names.
Midkwe Pvt Ltd had appealed to the Supreme Court against a judgment handed by Justice Lawrence Kamocha last year interdicting it from carrying out mining operations on Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines mining claims.
The background of the case was that on 1 February 2006, Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mines Pvt Ltd and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe entered into a standard tribute and rental agreement for Chaka Gold Plant situated about 4.5km outside Kwekwe.
The renewable agreement was done in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act and was supposed to lapse after three years.
The RBZ was operating through Carslone Enterprises, the second respondent.
When RBZ ended its quasi fiscal operations, Kwekwe Consolidated Mines Pvt and Carslone Enterprises agreed to continue with the tribute agreement until its expiry in February 2012.
After the expiry of the tribute and rental agreement, the parties continued using the premises and the mining commissioner, a Mr W Dube, wrote to them saying mining under the said agreement was in contravention of the mining laws.
Kwekwe Consolidated Mines Pvt Ltd and Carslone Enterprises were interdicted from operating at Chaka plant but had also appealed against the decision and sought to evict Midkwe Pvt Ltd, who challenged the move and were refusing to leave the premises.
Justice Kamocha ruled that Midkwe Minerals was operating illegally hence the appeal.
The dismissal of Midkwe’s appeal by Chief Justice Chidyausiku yesterday means that the mining company would be evicted from the gold claims.
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