HARARE
–
The
Supreme
Court
has
dismissed
an
appeal
by
businessman
Lovemore
Kurotwi
and
his
company
Canadile
Miners
(Pvt)
Ltd
over
US$3.6
million
that
they
tried
to
claim
from
funds
originally
belonging
to
the
defunct
diamond
joint
venture
between
Core
Mining
and
Minerals
Resources
(Pty)
Ltd
and
the
state-owned
Marange
Resources.
In
a
judgement
given
shortly
after
hearing
arguments
on
Thursday,
Justices
Lavender
Makoni,
George
Chiweshe
and
Joseph
Musakwa
upheld
a
High
Court
ruling
which
found
that
the
money
–
held
by
AFC
Commercial
Bank
–
lawfully
belonged
to
Core
Mining
and
not
to
Canadile
or
its
former
directors.
The
dispute
traces
back
to
2010,
when
Canadile
Miners
–
then
operating
in
Chiadzwa
–
declared
a
US$3.3
million
dividend
to
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.
More
than
a
decade
later,
in
March
2025,
OFAC
released
the
money
–
now
worth
US$3.525
million
with
interest
–
but
by
then
Canadile’s
bank
account
had
long
been
closed.
Kurotwi
and
his
associate
Cougan
Matanhire
claimed
the
funds
on
behalf
of
Canadile,
while
Core
Mining’s
joint
liquidators,
represented
by
Beatrice
Mtetwa,
said
the
money
was
rightfully
theirs.
High
Court
judge
Justice
Samuel
Deme
ruled
in
favour
of
Core
Mining,
finding
that
the
dividend
had
never
been
reversed
and
that
once
declared,
ownership
vested
in
Core
Mining.
He
said
Kurotwi
and
Matanhire
had
acted
“dishonestly,
recklessly
and
fraudulently”
and
ordered
them
to
pay
punitive
costs.
The
Zimbabwe
Mining
Development
Corporation
(ZMDC),
which
partnered
Core
Mining
through
Marange
Resources,
wrote
to
the
court
confirming
that
the
joint
venture
had
long
been
dissolved
and
that
the
funds
“rightfully
belonged
to
Core
Mining.”
The
Supreme
Court’s
dismissal
of
Kurotwi’s
appeal
this
week
effectively
closes
the
case,
affirming
that
the
recovered
US$3.6
million
belongs
to
Core
Mining,
whose
interests
were
represented
by
Advocate
Thabani
Mpofu
instructed
by
Lincoln
Majogo
of
Mtetwa
&
Nyambirai
Legal
Practitioners.
Edley
Mubaiwa
and
Samuel
Banda
appeared
for
Kurotwi
and
Canadile
Miners.
The
Canadile
Miners
joint
venture
was
formed
in
2009
between
Core
Mining,
a
South
African
investment
vehicle,
and
Marange
Resources,
a
subsidiary
of
ZMDC,
to
mine
diamonds
in
Chiadzwa.
The
venture
collapsed
spectacularly
in
late
2010
after
the
government
accused
Core
Mining’s
directors,
including
Kurotwi,
of
misrepresenting
their
financial
capacity
to
secure
the
licence.
Kurotwi
was
arrested
and
later
charged
with
fraud,
but
after
a
long
trial
was
acquitted
in
2017.
Since
then,
Core
Mining
has
been
under
liquidation
in
South
Africa,
while
Kurotwi
has
fought
numerous
legal
battles
to
regain
control
of
assets
once
tied
to
the
failed
diamond
project.