HARARE - Top Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa yesterday roasted former Mines minister Obert Mpofu and accused him of breaching the law by dissolving the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and illegally running the parastatal.
Mtetwa said this while cross examining Mpofu, who is now the Transport minister, in the on-going trial of Core Mining and Minerals (Private) Limited director Lovemore Kurotwi.
Kurotwi is jointly charged with ZMDC’s ex-boss Dominic Mubaiwa. The two are accused of misrepresenting facts to government and prejudicing it of $2 billion.
The pair was arrested after a botched investment by a South African diamond firm, Benn Steinmeitz Group Resources (BSGR), into a diamond mining project in Marange diamond fields.
The State claims Kurotwi misrepresented to the ministry of Mines and ZMDC that Core Mining was a special purpose vehicle of BSGR, which was supposed to be the guarantor in a joint venture agreement between the parties.
ZMDC, which owns Marange Resources and Kurotwi’s Core Mining, went into a joint venture deal to extract diamonds in Marange, forming the now defunct Canadile Miners.
Mtetwa, who is representing Kurotwi, told the court yesterday that Mpofu dissolved the ZMDC board between February and June 2009, soon after being appointed Mines minister.
Mpofu retorted that it was within his powers to dissolve the ZMDC board. He confirmed that for four months, the ministry was running the affairs of ZMDC.
However, Mtetwa said this was against the law. She said the then Mines permanent secretary Thankful Musukutwa claimed in court that Mpofu sidelined him in some of the meetings that he had with potential investors.
Asked if he was aware that according to the ZMDC Act, it was the corporation, through the board, that was tasked with the administration of the mining sector, Mpofu said in the absence of the board, it was the ministry that was tasked with the operations.
“If there is no board, the ministry runs the affairs,” Mpofu said, a factor to which Mtetwa said was the reason why he had to tell the court why he dissolved the statutory board.
“You were in breach of the law during the four-month period. In terms of which law were you running the affairs of ZMDC?” Mtetwa asked Mpofu.
She said Mpofu continued to breach the law by directing the board to bring investment to him instead of the other way round.
Mpofu said the ministry was acting within the confines of the law and had the authority to run the corporation through the ZMDC management.
Asked to confirm if he kept minutes of meetings he had with potential investors, Mpofu told the court that there were no minutes but said he had notes. He did admit that, though, that minutes were a statutory requirement.
“Did you keep minutes of all the meetings you had with potential investors when there was no board?” asked Mtetwa.
He said he had no obligation to produce the notes, adding that senior management from ZMDC would occasionally attend some of the meetings he had with the investors; during the time the board was not in place.
He said he had four meetings with Kurotwi, one in Bulawayo and the other three in Harare.
Mpofu is the last State witness in a case that has been rumbling on for years.
He has been accused of demanding a $10 million bribe from Kurotwi, allegations he has strenuously denied.
Kurotwi claims that the fraud charges he is facing came about when he told President Robert Mugabe that Mpofu had demanded the money as a “thank you” for facilitating a joint venture agreement between government and his company.
The case continues today, when Mtetwa will continue cross-examining Mpofu.