BULAWAYO – Vubachikwe Gold Mine has approached the High Court on an urgent basis after alleging that a group of illegal miners led by Zanu PF’s Matabeleland South youth chairman violently seized control of its mining lease in Gwanda, deployed heavy machinery and began stripping gold ore in an organised operation that continues unabated. One of the directors of the company under Forbes & Thompson (Bulawayo), Musa Amidu alleged Moses Langa is working in connivance with Aldonia Gondo, Madodana Sibanda, Taison Mutengeni, Takeson Moyo and Alot Ndlovu. According to the court filing, the company owns a Mining Lease 16 (ML16) since July 26, 1983, when it was issued under the Mines and Minerals Act.
“That unbroken and lawful possession was violently shattered on the 17th of January 2026,” Amidu said in his founding affidavit seeking urgent hearing of the matter. “They forcibly entered the mining location without any shadow of a right, court order or consent of the applicant, and commenced extensive mining operations,” Amidu further alleges. According to the affidavit, the group moved onto the lease with front-end loaders, tippers and compressors, immediately beginning “large-scale excavation, removal and processing of gold-bearing ore” at key sites including Sweet Waters, Central Shaft turn-off, Magano Shaft, Churu Farm and the Low-Density Village area.
Amidu, who says he was on duty as mine security officer at the time, describes the invasion as coordinated and escalating. “The dispossession is not a single past event but a live, ongoing and intensifying crisis,” he says. “Every hour that the respondents remain in occupation results in the irreversible loss of finite gold ore and permanent damage to the mining ground and infrastructure.” He alleges that attempts by mine security to intervene were met with intimidation and organised resistance.
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“The respondents intimidated the applicant’s security personnel and resisted lawful intervention,” Amidu states, adding that the illegal miners “repelled a lawful operation” by police aimed at stopping the activity. The affidavit further alleges that the takeover was publicly declared on January 19, 2026, when Langa, flanked by Gondo and others, addressed a large gathering at the mine. “Langa publicly proclaimed that the area had been forcibly taken over and assured all present of immunity from arrest,” Amidu says, adding that the statements were meant to entrench the occupation and embolden those involved.
Amidu accuses the group of moving swiftly to formalise what he calls an illegal syndicate. “They have introduced registers for panners, openly declared plans to fence the area and are engaging in high-level political lobbying aimed at legitimising the invasion,” he states.
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