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. – ZimLive
