Online Reporter
Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The Supreme Court’s judgment last week delivered a hard blow to businessman Lovemore Kurotwi and his defunct company, Canadile Miners, in their protracted battle for US$3,6 million.
The court’s dismissal of their appeal leaves no ambiguity, as the funds, originally tied to a diamond mining partnership gone awry, belong to Core Mining and Minerals Resources.
The story began in 2009, when Canadile Miners emerged as a joint venture between Core Mining, a South African investment entity, and Marange Resources, a subsidiary of the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
The enterprise, tasked with extracting diamonds from the rich Chiadzwa fields, seemed poised for prosperity. But by late 2010, the venture unravelled amid allegations of misrepresentation.
The Government accused Core Mining’s directors, including Kurotwi, of inflating their financial capacity to obtain a mining licence.
Kurotwi faced fraud charges but was eventually acquitted after a lengthy trial in 2017. In the wake of the collapse, Core Mining entered liquidation in South Africa, while Kurotwi waged a series of legal battles for control over the spoils of the failed partnership.
Central to this latest chapter was a US$3,3 million dividend declared by Canadile Miners in 2010, intended for its South African partner, Core Mining.
The funds were intercepted and frozen by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under sanctions regulations.
Years passed, and in March 2025, OFAC released the money, now with interest, totalling US$3,6 million.
But by then, Canadile Miners’ bank account had long been closed. Kurotwi and his associate Coughan Matanhire staked a claim to the funds on behalf of Canadile, while Core Mining’s liquidators argued that the dividend, once declared, was irrevocably theirs.
The High Court ruled in favour of Core Mining, with Justice Samuel Deme finding that ownership of the dividend had vested in Core Mining at the time of its declaration.
He described Kurotwi and Matanhire’s actions as “dishonest, reckless, and fraudulent,” ordering them to pay punitive costs.
The ZMDC, which had partnered with Core Mining through Marange Resources, also confirmed to the court that the joint venture had been dissolved and that the funds rightfully belonged to Core Mining.
Last week, a three-judge Supreme Court panel comprising Justices Lavender Makoni, George Chiweshe and Joseph Musakwa upheld the High Court’s ruling, bringing Kurotwi’s appeal to an unceremonious end.
The judgment confirms that the disputed funds, held by AFC Commercial Bank, belong to Core Mining.
The case is now closed. The judgment offers finality to a saga that began with grand ambitions in Chiadzwa but ended with shattered partnerships and years of litigation.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu, instructed by Lincoln Majogo of Mtetwa & Nyambirai Legal Practitioners, represented Core Mining, while Advocates Edley Mubaiwa and Samuel Banda appeared for Kurotwi and Canadile Miners.
