RioZim reels from court blow
....vows to appeal asset-sale ban as survival battle deepens
CLOUDINE MATOLA
RioZim Limited has pledged to fight back after the High Court barred its board from selling mining and non-core assets, a ruling the once-prominent mining conglomerate says threatens its survival and delays a crucial financial rescue, Business Times can report.
The decision followed an urgent application by the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) and two other parties seeking to place the miner under court-led administration.
The court granted interim relief on August 5, pending confirmation or discharge, effectively freezing RioZim’s plans to dispose of assets to raise cash.
“… the Zimbabwe Diamond & Allied Minerals Workers Union, representing some of the employees of the company, lodged an urgent chamber application, heard on 29 July 2025, for an interdict seeking interim relief that the board be barred from proceeding with the contemplated transactions and actions contained in the cautionary statement published on 21 July 2025.
“Such interim relief was granted in favour of the applicants on 5 August 2025 pending confirmation or discharge of the provisional order. The company intends to appeal the said order granted,” RioZim said.
The miner insists the blocked transactions would have unlocked funding to clear wage arrears, pay creditors and restart idled operations. “The proposed transactions were anticipated to bring much needed funding into the operations of the company to assist with payment to its employee salaries and creditors and to resuscitate mining operations,” RioZim said.
“The action taken by the Zimbabwe Diamond & Allied Minerals Workers Union as such has prevented the company from taking these much needed initiatives to restart mining operations and to alleviate the current hardships being faced by the workers as well as to elevate the current operational pressures.”
The company has suspended all deals while preparing its appeal.
“The company at this stage has taken a decision to put on hold all transactions contemplated in the cautionary statement referred to above, pending the outcome of the appeal. The directors and management of the company are committed to finding a quick resolution to this impasse such that mining and gold production can restart and continue,” the company added.
RioZim has been grappling with acute financial distress, struggling to pay workers, taxes and electricity bills. Earlier this month, state power utility ZESA cut supply to the group’s flagship Renco Mine over unpaid bills, intensifying its operational paralysis.
The turbulence has been exacerbated by leadership uncertainty following the death of RioZim’s majority shareholder, Harpal Randhawa, in a plane crash in September 2023.
The loss has left the miner exposed to boardroom tensions at a time when its balance sheet is under unprecedented strain.
Once one of Zimbabwe’s most recognisable mining houses, RioZim now faces a defining test of survival, one that hinges on its ability to overturn the court order and secure new capital before its operations collapse further.
