HARARE – The Supreme Court has struck off an appeal by a diamond and minerals workers’ union seeking to place RioZim Limited under corporate rescue after finding that the workers failed to properly seek condonation for missing a court deadline. Justice George Chiweshe, sitting in chambers, ruled that the appeal had been deemed abandoned after the applicants failed to pay security for costs within the prescribed period. “The applicants were required to seek condonation for their non-compliance…
They failed to do so. Their application is therefore fatally defective and ought to be struck off the roll,” Justice Chiweshe said. The Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union, together with employee Precious Mwanza and former employee Owen Kapeta, had approached the High Court seeking corporate rescue for RioZim, arguing that the mining company was financially distressed and that the process would protect workers and preserve the company.
The High Court dismissed the application after finding that the union and the two employees lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the corporate rescue proceedings. The applicants then appealed but failed to pay security for costs, resulting in the appeal being deemed abandoned by the registrar on February 17, 2026. They subsequently sought reinstatement of the appeal.
However, RioZim opposed the application, arguing that the workers had failed to properly seek condonation for their non-compliance with the court rules. The Supreme Court agreed, finding that merely referring to condonation in a draft order was insufficient. “A draft order cannot cure such an omission,” Chiweshe said. The judge said the appeal was not without a remedy, as the rules provided a mechanism for reinstatement, but the applicants first had to properly seek condonation for their default. The court therefore ordered: “The matter be and is hereby struck off the roll with costs.”
Source: RioZim workers lose Supreme Court corporate rescue appeal – Zimbabwe News Now
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