HARARE – ZIMASCO (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Sinosteel Corporation, has lodged a formal and explosive complaint with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) against Justice Joel Mambara of the High Court, alleging “judicial impropriety” and accusing him of being complicit in a “fraudulent scheme” to raid the company’s bank accounts and take over control.
In a strongly worded letter dated 21 March 2025, ZIMASCO CEO John Musekiwa has detailed a series of events surrounding an application for corporate rescue filed by Avim Investments (Private) Limited against SINOSTEEL ZIMASCO (Private) Limited (a separate entity, according to ZIMASCO).
The complaint alleges that Justice Mambara granted a corporate rescue order on 12 March 2025 (HCH685/25) despite the application not being served on ZIMASCO (Pvt) Ltd, the company whose assets were targeted.
“Notably, this application was never served on ZIMASCO (Private) Limited regardless of the fact that there is a certificate of service purporting that service was effected on SINOSTEEL ZIMASCO (Private) Limited. Mambara J granted an order on 12 March 2025,” Musekiwa noted.
ZIMASCO further contends that the initial order was fundamentally flawed as a corporate rescue order can only be granted after a prior court order for the payment of a debt, which Avim Investments allegedly did not possess, having only presented a letter of demand.
The situation escalated when, according to ZIMASCO, Avim Investments, through its legal practitioners Valentine Kwande and Wilson Manase, filed a chamber application for correction of the court order (HCH1280/25) on 19 March 2025.
This application sought to rectify the discrepancy in the name of the entity targeted by the order, aiming to include Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd.
ZIMASCO vehemently claims that this second application was also not served on them, despite the rules of court requiring such applications to be served on all interested parties.
The company alleges that this application was urgently referred to Justice Mambara at the insistence of Kwande and was granted within a mere three hours of filing.
The complaint highlights several procedural irregularities and raises serious questions about Justice Mambara’s conduct.
ZIMASCO argues that Rule 29 of the High Court rules, which allows for the correction of judgments, is limited to cases of ambiguity, patent error, or omission and cannot be used to introduce a new party into the relief without proper citation and service.
The company further asserts that the application for correction should have been filed as a court application, not a chamber application, and should have been served on all interested parties, including Zimasco.
ZIMASCO states that neither the initial application nor the application for correction was ever served on them, despite a purported certificate of service for the first application. They claim their lawyers were actively denied service by Avim’s legal team for over a month.
ZIMASCO had also questioned the process of case allocation, finding it “inconceivable” that both “wholly defective applications” were assigned to the same judge twice in a week, particularly in a court with numerous judges.
They note that Kwande specifically requested the allocation of the second application to Justice Mambara.
Based on these allegations, ZIMASCO has concluded that Justice Mambara’s actions were “wilful” and suggested his “active participation in the fraudulent scheme” orchestrated by Avim Investments and its legal practitioners to unlawfully seize control of Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd’s assets.
“The Honourable Judge surely could not correct his own order in the absence of the affected parties. The acceptance of an application which did not provide for service, the consideration of that application in the absence of affected parties and the breathtaking speed with which this all took place (from filing of the order, allocation to Mambara J, reading the papers, grant of the order and issue in 3 hours) is suggestive of judicial impropriety and that he was not just a passive, but active participant in the fraudulent scheme to defraud ZIMASCO (Private) Limited.
“There is only one possible explanation for the actions of the honourable judge and it is this; honourable Mambara J is involved in the fraudulent plot to raid the bank accounts of ZIMASCO (Pvt) Ltd and take over control by fraudulent means in connivance with the two sets of lawyers and their client, hence the grant of two defective court orders,” the company stated.
ZIMASCO is urgently requesting the Judicial Service Commission to intervene and address this “serious issue,” citing the potential exposure of the public and users of the legal system when judges are allegedly involved in such schemes.
