RIOZIM SUED OVER DEVELOPMENT LEVY:

CHIVI Rural District Council has dragged diamond miner RioZim Limited to court over the $350 000 it owes in outstanding development levy since the advent of dollarisation in 2009.

RioZim owns diamond claims in Sese and Shavahuru communal lands that straddle over 3 000 hectares in Chivi.

The claims are yet to be exploited and recently the Masvingo provincial leadership led by Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Senator Josaya Hungwe demanded that the claims be extracted to benefit the people of Masvingo and the country at large.

Chivi RDC chief executive Mr Tariro Matavire yesterday confirmed that his council took RioZim to court over failure to pay development levy arrears.

“The matter is now awaiting determination at the High Court after we took RioZim to court over its failure to pay development levy amounting to about $348 000,” he said.

“We expect the court to make a decision anytime from now.”

Mr Matavire said RioZim neglected to pay its development levy since 2009, adding that council first took the diamond miner to the Chivi Civil Court and won the case. He said RioZim then appealed against the judgment ordering it to pay the development levy.

Chivi RDC had engaged the services of Mavhiringidze and Mashanyare law firm of Harare to recover the outstanding development levy from RioZim on its behalf.

RioZim, which also owns Murowa Diamond Mine in neighbouring Zvishavane, recently announced plans to invest $25 million to exploit the Sese diamond claims.