Kurotwi loses US$3.6 million unfrozen diamond funds appeal

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by businessman Lovemore Kurotwi and his company Canadile Miners (Pvt) Ltd, ending a long-running legal battle over US$3.6 million originally belonging to the defunct diamond joint venture between Core Mining and Minerals Resources (Pty) Ltd and the state-owned Marange Resources.

A panel of Justices Lavender Makoni, George Chiweshe, and Joseph Musakwa handed down the ruling on Thursday, upholding an earlier High Court decision that found the funds - held by AFC Commercial Bank - rightfully belonged to Core Mining, not Canadile or its former directors.

The dispute dates back to 2010, when Canadile Miners, then operating in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, declared a US$3.3 million dividend to its South African partner, Core Mining. However, the payment was intercepted and frozen by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under international sanctions.

When OFAC released the money in March 2025, now valued at US$3.525 million with accumulated interest, Canadile's bank account had already been closed. Kurotwi and his associate, Cougan Matanhire, then attempted to claim the funds on behalf of Canadile. Core Mining's joint liquidators, represented by Beatrice Mtetwa, opposed the move, arguing that the dividend had been properly declared and was therefore Core Mining's property.

In the High Court, Justice Samuel Deme ruled in favour of Core Mining, finding that the dividend ownership had transferred once declared and that Kurotwi and Matanhire had acted "dishonestly, recklessly and fraudulently." He ordered them to pay punitive costs.

The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), which was Core Mining's local partner through Marange Resources, supported the liquidators' position, confirming that the joint venture had long been dissolved and that the funds "rightfully belonged to Core Mining."

The Supreme Court's ruling this week affirmed Justice Deme's findings, bringing closure to a case that has lingered for more than a decade. The judgment cements Core Mining's ownership of the recovered US$3.6 million, effectively rejecting Kurotwi's last legal recourse on the matter.

Core Mining's interests were represented by Advocate Thabani Mpofu, instructed by Lincoln Majogo of Mtetwa & Nyambirai Legal Practitioners, while Edley Mubaiwa and Samuel Banda appeared for Kurotwi and Canadile Miners.

The Canadile Miners joint venture, established in 2009 between Core Mining and Marange Resources, collapsed in 2010 after the Government accused Core Mining's directors, including Kurotwi, of misrepresenting their financial capacity to secure a diamond mining licence.

Kurotwi was arrested and charged with fraud but was acquitted in 2017 after a lengthy trial. Since then, he has been involved in several legal battles seeking to reclaim assets linked to the ill-fated Chiadzwa diamond project.