High Court joins President Mnangagwa in Gokwe Sengwa Colliery Mine dispute

The High Court has added President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a respondent in a legal dispute concerning the Gokwe Sengwa Colliery Mine. This action follows the Mines minister's cancellation of Sengwa Colliery Private Limited's special grant to mine coal, which was subsequently awarded to George Mining. Sengwa Colliery, which held Special Grant No 849 for over four decades, approached the court arguing that the President is the sole authority empowered to resolve such disputes under section 305 of the Mines and Minerals Act. The company claims the minister and his secretary usurped presidential powers by cancelling their grant and issuing a new one to George Mining. George Mining, however, contended that there were no mining activities by Sengwa Colliery and that the minister's actions were compliant with the Act and had received presidential approval. High Court judge Justice Regis Dembure ruled that while the non-joinder of the President was material, it was not fatal, and ordered his inclusion as the seventh respondent, granting him a grace period to file opposing papers.