Mutumwa Mawere loses SMM case

the local asbestos mining firm.
Mr Mawere told The Herald yesterday that he would appeal against the judgment, accusing Mr Willis of misdirecting himself on various fundamental issues of the law.
The judgment against the Zimbabwe-born South African businessman came after Mr Mawere filed a complaint of bias against the judge.
He filed the complaint with the Judicial Service Commission of South Africa, alleging that the judge was biased.
The court had dismissed an application for the judge’s recusal.
The dismissal was the last straw in a drama filled trial that saw Mr Mawere’s lawyer, Mr Friedrick Kyle, withdrawing from the case in protest against alleged bias by the bench.
Before applying for the judge’s recusal, the lawyer made an application to separate the R18 million suit from another case.
The other case sought to clarify whether SMM was still under reconstruction in accordance with the Reconstruction of State Indebted Companies and Insolvency Act.
In his judgment, Justice Willis upheld submission made by SMM that Mr Mawere and another director, Mr Nathan Mariemuthu, devised a scheme in which two South African firms he controlled withheld money due to SMM.
The suit followed an agreement entered into in 2004 by Southern Asbestos Sales that used to be a marketing arm of SMM in South Africa to pay Petter Trading money owed by SMM in mining equipment supplies.
It was submitted that in the agreement, SMM “purported” to be ceding to Petter a part of its claim against SAS.
This, the local asbestos firm argued, was fraudulent as it had the effect of prejudicing SMM and violated the country’s foreign exchange regulations
Judge Willis dismissed assertion by Mr Mawere that the legal suit had been instigated by the Government of Zimbabwe that had expropriated his assets under reconstruction laws.
But Mr Mawere said the judge relied more on what he termed admissions by defendants instead of making it an obligation for the plaintiff to prove their case.