Online Reporter
Prosper Dembedza
Herald Correspondent
FIVE Beable Investments (Private) Limited directors appeared in court on Tuesday on allegations of extracting clay and moulding bricks at Springs Farm, owned by Marimba Residential Properties Limited, despite being barred by the High Court and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
Ye Youying (43), Ndai Mutarabusha (47), Taurai Pundo (27), Zhou Jiacheng and Chen Fengzhou (55) were facing charges of breaching the Environmental Management Regulation Act and contempt of court charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Artwell Sanyatwe.
Mutarabusha and Pundo were remanded out of custody while the other three were ordered to return to court on November 11 for bail ruling.
The court heard that on August 24 2025, Elene Athina Bruggisser, the secretary of Marimba Residential Properties Limited, reported to the police that they had obtained a provisional order from the High Court of Zimbabwe directing Beable Investments (Private) Limited to stop its clay extraction and brick moulding operations at a piece of land at Springs Farm, which they own.
It is alleged that the matter was referred to the CID Minerals, Flora and Fauna Unit, Harare, for further management.
It is alleged that upon carrying out investigations, the detectives established that Beable Investments (Private) Limited, on October 17 2024, received separate orders or directives to stop its operations from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Environmental Management Agency.
In the same letter dated October 17 2024, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development nullified mining registration certificate number ME2064BM in Beable Investments (Private) Limited’s name.
The court heard that further investigations established that the Environmental Management Agency, on February 3 2025, reviewed an order served to Beable Investments (Private) Limited, (received and signed by Pundo) by environmental inspector Mr Oliver Kanengoni on February 1 2025.
In the review letter, Beable Investments (Private) Limited was directed to stop operations until it produced proof of land lease from the responsible authorities.
Despite the provisional order from the High Court and orders and directives to stop operations, the accused persons, acting in connivance with Lin Weilan (still at large) willfully disobeyed the orders and directives and continued extracting clay and moulding bricks at the farm.
The accused persons, acting in their personal capacity as managers and directors of Beable Investments Private Limited and being principal officers did nothing to cause Beable Investments (Private) Limited to comply with the provisional order.
Beable Investments (Private) Limited, from the date of its inception, has been operating without a clay extraction licence, brick moulding licence and any other ancillary licences.
