JUSTICE minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has appointed Harare lawyer Mutsa Remba as the administrator of Trojan Nickel Mine Limited which has been put under reconstruction amid lingering controversy over his mines which were state-owned ended up in private hands and now in under business rescue.
Remba, of Dube, Manikai & Hwacha Legal Practitioners, will be deputised by Ian Mtetwa.
Trojan Mine is a subsidiary of Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC) owned by Kuvimba Mining House.
Kuvimba is now 100% owned by government and has been put under Mutapa Investment Fund, formerly the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Prior to this, Kuvimba was once 65% by controlled government, with 35% reportedly under an opaque management consortium. Local tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei was reportedly the real owner of the 35% stake, but he has denied involvement.
Government recently paid US$1.6 billion – a staggering figure – for the murky 35% through Treasury Bills, raising eyebrows as to who the actual ultimate beneficial owner is.
The market is still anxious on that as people dig for the truth. There has also been no proper account and transparency on how formerly state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC) assets ended up in entities associated with Tagwirei, that is Sotic and later Kuvimba, something the businessman, who is also one of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s advisers, has always denied.
The way dodgy deals involving those assets have been done seems like a merry-go-round of self-enrichment by a political and business cabal that has captured the state. Ziyambi appointed Remba in terms of section 4 of the Reconstruction of State-Indebted Insolvent Companies Act [Chapter 24:27] (No. 27 of 2004).
The law was used in 2004 to seize businessman Mutumwa Mawere’s mining company, SMM, after his fallout with Zanu PF bigwigs.
Bindura Nickel Corporation has three mining locations in Zimbabwe, including Trojan Mine (Bindura), Shangani Mine (Shangani) and the Hunters Road Project (between Gweru and Kwekwe).
The company previously operated Epoch Mine (Filabusi) and Madziwa Mine (Madziwa), both of which are now closed. It also owns, through Trojan Mine, smelter and refinery complexes in Bindura. Both complexes are currently under care and maintenance.- STAFF WRITER
