School seeks to evict Murowa Diamond from premises
Madamombe Secondary School has dragged Murowa Diamond to court in an effort to evict the miner from the school premises for disrupting learning activities.
The School Development Committee (SDC) seeks for the court to evict Murowa Diamonds from the school grounds in Sese Communal Lands, where the company has been exploring diamonds for three years.
Murowa Diamonds was last year given an ultimatum to leave the area by SDC on grounds of not considering the community’s concerns.
The SDC has been arguing that Murowa was disrupting learning activities after camping at Danhamombe High School grounds from where it explores gems in kimberlite pipes discovered in the area.
Through its lawyers Matutu and Mureri, the SDC approached the Masvingo Civil Court seeking Murowa to be ejected from the school precincts within seven days from the issuance of summons.
The summons, dated 3 March 2021, cited the diamond miner as the first respondent and the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education as the second respondent.
Danhamombe SDC also wants Murowa to meet the costs of the suit.
Murowa is still to file a notice to defend the suit.
Murowa began exploring diamonds in Sese around 2018 and has nearly 200 mining claims in the area.
At one time, Murowa stood accused of having conducted drilling activities less than 100 metres from a classroom block at St Simon Zhara Primary School, which shares the grounds with Danhamombe High School, with the noise of the rig disrupting learning at Danhamombe High School.
The community, under the auspices of Sese Community Trust, first wrote to Government and the diamond miner demanding that Murowa decamps from Danhamombe High premises by December 5 last year.
Murowa was also accused of failing to engage the community to work out an amicable arrangement that satisfies both parties.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira at one time weighed in the dispute, saying it was improper for Murowa to camp within premises of a school.
President Mnangagwa also spoke about the issue during a visit to Chivi in December last year, urging Murowa to engage the Sese community to resolve the dispute.
Murowa owns a diamond mine in Zvishavane and the Sese community says they want a win-win situation with the gem extractor if it is to go ahead with mining activities in the area.
RioZim Murowa (a member of RioZim Limited) is a leading diamond mining company in Zimbabwe located in Zvishavane. It changed its name from Murowa Diamonds to RioZim Murowa in 2019.