A Fresh mining wrangle has sucked in police, Matabeleland South provincial mining director Mukuza and some members of the judiciary services who are obstructing the course of justice, the Zim Morning Post has heard.
The fresh mining wrangle sucked in police has left a number of people wrongfully arrested and some displaced has been ongoing for some time at a claim registered as Cakewalk 8, located in Fort Rixon.
The rightful owner of the claim Gibson Munsaka has taken legal action against the director and also cited D and A Syndicate, Officer in Charge ZRP Fort Rixon as respondents.
Zim Morning Post is in possession of Munsaka’s registration certificate (number 43008) and evidence pointing out to the fact that the respondents abused office and attempted to adjust paperwork to elbow out Munsaka.
It is alleged that the mining director and his accomplices fraudulently made efforts to grab Munsaka’s claim where he has been operating since 2005.
The mining director allegedly applied for re-pegging of the claim on February 17 2017 and yet the whole of Fort Rixon Mining District was already under an Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO), rendering it impossible for re-pegging.
“During the dispute the whole of Fort Rixon Mining district was under an EPO hence could not be re-pegged in the material time that the respondents claim to have re-pegged the claim.
“It is common cause that when Cakewalk 8 was registered in 2005, the GPS technology was not yet in use for pegging of claims.
“These were only introduced in 2007 which necessitated the drawing of coordinates which were approved by the ministry of mines and the same coordinates exist to this day,” read part of the court papers.(High Court Case number 2347/18)
The mining director acted in complete negation of the Mines and Minerals Act which is very clear that a person who occupies a claim whether having over-pegged or not and been in continuous operations for a period of two years cannot be moved or contested on that claim.
The matter opens a can of worms into the improper conduct employed by top mines ministry officials in the province.
Sources said “police was paid to make sure that the rightful owner of the mine was arrested for unlawfully operating on his claim.”
Last year, Mashonaland Central provincial office was shut down after the top official faced similar allegations of either grabbing claims or illegally re allocating them to other people after receiving kickbacks.
Mines minister Winston Chitando has cracked a whip on such offenders, which saw a massive reshuffling in all provinces.
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