Mphoko's $50m suit against Daily News thrown out

High Court judge Joseph Musakwa has thrown out Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko's $50 million claim against Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) - the publisher of the Daily News, the Daily News on Sunday and the Weekend Post.

This was after Mphoko did not appear in the High Court Thursday morning.

Mphoko's application was dismissed with costs after ANZ lawyer Alec Muchadehama applied to have the matter thrown out.

"As it stands, now, Mphoko's $50 million claim against the Daily News has been dismissed with costs by the court," Muchadehama said.

During the application for the dismissal of the matter, Muchadehama told the court that Mphoko, who sent a principal director in his office Themba Ndlovu, was supposed to appear in person for the pretrial conference in terms of court rules.

"The rules stipulate that a party who has been notified to attend a pretrial conference must appear himself at the pretrial conference," Muchadehama said, adding that Mphoko's proxy Ndlovu was a stranger to the case.

Mphoko's lawyer from GN Mlotshwa & Company's bid to seek condonation hit a brick wall. He claimed Mphoko was attending to some State business, but Musakwa said court business took precedence over any other business.