Zimbabwean businessman Lovemore Kurotwi loses $3.6 million court battle

Zimbabwean businessman Lovemore Kurotwi has lost a long-running legal battle over about $3.6 million tied to the defunct Canadile Miners diamond venture, after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and upheld earlier rulings that awarded the funds to Core Mining & Minerals Resources (Pty) Ltd, a former South African partner in the collapsed project.

The judgment, delivered in Harare, confirmed a previous High Court decision that placed the funds held at AFC Commercial Bank under Core Mining’s liquidation proceedings. The ruling effectively ends Kurotwi’s attempt to reclaim the money, which he said belonged to his company, Canadile Miners.

Diamond venture turns into legal dispute

The case stems from events between 2009 and 2010, when Canadile Miners entered a joint venture with Marange Resources, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), to mine diamonds in the Chiadzwa fields. During its brief operation, the venture declared a dividend of about $3.3 million in favor of Core Mining.

The partnership quickly fell apart after government officials accused Kurotwi and others of misrepresentation and irregularities in the company’s formation. Core Mining later went into liquidation, and Kurotwi faced separate fraud allegations, which marked the start of years of court battles tied to the diamond venture.

The dispute resurfaced in March 2025 when the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released frozen funds that were now worth about $3.53 million with interest. Both Canadile and Core Mining’s liquidators laid claim to the money, each arguing it rightfully belonged to them.

Judges rule in favor of Core Mining

In its earlier ruling, the High Court found that the dividend had lawfully vested in Core Mining and had never been reversed. The court criticized Kurotwi and his associates for what it called “dishonest and reckless conduct,” and ordered them to pay costs.

The Supreme Court’s latest decision leaves that finding intact, confirming that the funds should remain part of Core Mining’s estate. It also cited documentation from the ZMDC that confirmed the joint venture’s termination years ago.

What this means for the mining industry

Despite years of legal battles, Lovemore Kurotwi remains known for his role in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector. As head of Canadile Miners, he was part of a joint venture with the state-owned ZMDC to mine in the Marange fields, once seen as Zimbabwe’s most promising diamond find.

His business career, however, has been clouded by fraud allegations and protracted court disputes that have shaped his public image more than his early entrepreneurial ambitions. Now that his appeal has been denied, the case is a clear reminder for the mining industry as a whole that the true value of a resource project is often only clear long after the extraction is over.