Zim food fight in SA court
If Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed food giant Innscor was hoping to avoid press scrutiny, it could hardly have chosen a more self-destructive path than seeking a gag order against journalist Rutendo Matinyarare, a prolific campaigner against what he says is the deteriorating quality of food in that country.
The story has blown up in Zimbabwe, with hundreds of thousands of engagements on social media and some prominent personalities weighing in with thoughts of their own.
The controversy has stirred the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe to issue a statement, saying the statements by Matinyarare are baseless and harmful to the industry.
Matinyarare refuses to back down. In the past few days he took to social media to publish results from a French safety laboratory showing high levels of genetically-modified organism (GMO) in a food sample produced by Innscor companies.
GMO is banned in Zimbabwe and several other African countries – but not SA – as it is deemed to be harmful to human health.
Moneyweb can report on the case because it is all detailed in papers before the High Court in Johannesburg.
The gag order was granted against Matinyarare and his company, Frontline Strat Marketing Consultancy, by Justice Namhla Siwendu in the High Court in Johannesburg on 9 January, pending the anticipated launch of a further action by Innscor seeking damages against Matinyarare.
The order required Matinyarare to delete an X account with the handle “Innscor has destroyed the taste of Zim food”, and two video clips, “The Innscor problem explained”, on X and Facebook.
Matinyarare’s legal team says it is highly irregular for a Zimbabwean company to approach a South African court for relief against Matinyarare, as he was in Zimbabwe at the time papers were served on him.
The legal team has approached the court for a reconsideration of the gag order and that case will be heard on 13 March.
Moneyweb reached out to Innscor’s legal representative in SA but had not received a reply by the time of publication.