HARARE, Mar. 23 (NewsDayLive) - Zimasco has filed an urgent High Court application to block attempts by Kwekwe-based businessman Shepard Tundiya, through his company Avim Investments to allegedly grab the chrome mining and smelting company.
This follows a recent High Court order which Avim secured to try and take over the firm.
In its court papers, Zimasco said the order, issued by Justice Joel Mambara, was directed at a completely unrelated and non-registered entity, Sinosteel Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd.
Despite the court order clearly being issued against Sinosteel Zimasco, Tundiya along with associate Wilson Manase, and businessman Denny Marandure, allegedly made an attempt on March 17, 2025 to seize control of Zimasco’s bank accounts at Ecobank by instructing the financial institution to change the account signatories to themselves.
The bank, according to company lawyers, resisted the move arguing that the court order did not apply to Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd.
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After hitting a brickwall at the bank, Tundiya and his alleged associates approached Zimasco head office in Harare claiming they had taken over the company’s management, and presented the court order.
But Zimasco management blocked the attempted takeover bid.
Avim, with the assistance of Kwande Legal Practitioners, allegedly later filed an application to "correct" the court order, to paint an impression that Sinosteel Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd was operating as Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd.
The application was heard by Justice Mambara, who granted the order without serving it on Zimasco, an interested party, NewsDay Live heard.
Armed with the alleged"corrected" order, Tundiya and his associates once again attempted to direct the bank to transfer control of Zimasco’s accounts.
However, Ecobank again refused, citing that the corporate rescue applied to Sinosteel Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd, not Zimasco.
Besides legally challenging the takeover bid, Zimasco has also approached the Judicial Service Commission to complain over Justice Mambara's handling of the matter.
