ZIMBABWE’s state sovereign wealth fund — Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) —
paid US$1.6 billion in Treasury Bills to acquire 35% of Kuvimba Mining House Ltd from a management consortium in the company valued at US$4.5 billion.
BERNARD MPOFU
Kuvimba holds valuable assets in precious minerals, base metals and energy group metals. It has vast gold, platinum, chrome, lithium and iron ore resources.
Some of the mines under the group include Freda Rebecca, Shamva, Evington, Sabi and Jena (gold), Bindura Nickel, Sandawana, Zim Alloys and Great Dyke Investments, which lies on Zimbabwe’s mineral-rich Great Dyke belt.
The government held a 65% equity stake in Kuvimba, but transferred it to MIF after it was established last year. So MIF now has 100% of the company in a move which seeks to end speculation about who its 35% beneficial owner was in the first place.
Since its inception in 2020, Kuvimba was linked to local tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei, but he consistently denied having any shareholding or interest in the company.
Asked by The NewsHawks if he was a shareholder in Kuvimba and whether he is part of the 35% stake disposal transaction, Tagwirei said: “I’m not part of Kuvimba and I have never been part of it. Ask MIF chief executive Dr John Mangudya about these issues. He should be able to explain to you.”
Mangudya, who was Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor for a decade before taking over as MIF boss early this month, confirmed the transaction, but also said they bought the 35% equity from management, not Tagwirei.
“MIF bought the 35% stake in Kuvimba from management. I need to check what was the value of the transaction. We bought the shareholding from a management consortium. I’m not aware of any other shareholder who was in Kuvimba other than government and management or their entities,” Mangudya said.
“What this means now is that Kuvimba is now 100% owned by MIF since government transferred its 65% shareholding in the company to the fund. There is no need for anymore speculation about this issue.”
Since Tagwirei is on United States sanctions, together with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and nine others, including three entities, delinking Kuvimba with the tycoon seems provides a welcome relief and a smart business move.
Being associated with sanctions through a rumoured shareholder was an albatross for Kuvimba.
Kuvimba, which is now part of MIF alongside a chain of state enterprises already put under its umbrella, holds some of Zimbabwe’s best mining assets, which were once owned by Tagwirei, who sits on Mnangagwa’s now practically defunct Presidential Advisory Council.
The government has never disclosed the details of how it came to own 65% of Kuvimba. Names of those who constitute the management consortium, which owned 35%, have also not been disclosed.
However, Kuvimba is now firmly under the control of MIF.
Some of the state enterprises under MIF include NetOne, National Railways of Zimbabwe, TelOne, Cottco, Zupco, Defold Mine, Silo Investments, National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, Petrotrade, People’s Savings Bank, Zesa, Zimbabwe Power Company, Telecel, Arda, Hwange Colliery, Fidelity Gold Refinery, PowerTel, Allied Timbers, and the Industrial Development Corporation.
Other entities added to MIF are Aurex, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of Zimbabwe, HomeLink, and HomeLink Finance.
Parastatals in Zimbabwe used to contribute about 40% to the gross domestic product at their peak in the first two decades after Independence in 1980, but their productivity has been whittled down by corruption and mismanagement.
