In a daring heist with all the hallmarks of grand corruption, fraud and looting, a complex and corrupt scheme was orchestrated by Kudakwashe Tagwirei, his business associates, and some senior military officials to unlawfully takeover 50% of Great Dyke Investments (Private) Limited (“GDI”), a platinum mining venture originally owned by Pen East Mining, a vehicle representing the interests of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (“ZDF”).
The transaction completed in 2019 was conducted through Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s company, Landela Mining Ventures, which later merged its assets into Kuvimba Mining House. The transaction was characterized by a lack of transparency, collusion, and inadequate compensation to the ZDF. Subsequently, Tagwirei and his accomplices profited immensely by selling these assets—alongside a few others—to the Zimbabwean government through the Mutapa Investment Fund at an implied valuation of US$5.4 billion and they pocketed US$1.9 billion which was representative of their 35% shareholding in Kuvimba Mining House. This was yet another fraudulent scheme, which further enriched Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his network at a huge expense to the military and the people of Zimbabwe.
According to a report by The Sentry, in 2006, Pen East Mining, represented by the late Colonel Tshinga Dube, the then-head of Zimbabwe De fence Industries, set up Ruschrome Mining, a joint venture established in Zimbabwe with the Russian Centre For Business Cooperation. The signing of the agreement was witnessed by the ZDF’s legal director and the Russian Embassy’s defense advisor. Ruschrome inherited a claim that Zimplats, a mining company, had surrendered to the government in 2006 as part of Zimbabwe’s empowerment and indigenization policy. Ruschrome Mining changed its name to Great Dyke.
In 2019 and assisted by South Africans and ex-Trafigura employees Jozef Behr, Christopher Fourie and Ronelle Sinclair, Kudakwashe Tagwirei hatched a plan to take over the ZDF shareholding in Pen East Mining under the pretext of assisting them in unlocking funding for the development of the mine since sanctions were restricting its potential for growth.
Typical of his modus operandi in executing his fraudulent and illegal transactions, senior military officials, including the late General Sibusiso Moyo, General Mupande, and Chief Secretary Martin Rushwaya, were coerced in supporting and implementing this transaction which effectively meant that a key asset that belonged to members of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces was being stolen in the process and no meaningful value would never flow to the ZDF nor its members in the short or long term.
Investigations have unearthed that Senior ZDF officials, including Colonel Siwinie Tauya (Zimbabwe Defense Industries) and Martin Rushwaya (now Chief Secretary to the President & Cabinet), facilitated the illegal transfer of the ZDF shares to Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s Landela Mining Ventures (Private) Limited while no proper approvals and due process was followed within the ZDF. Below is a schematic of exactly what transpired in the implementation of this illegal and fraudulent transaction.
Source: The Sentry
Tagwirei leveraged his close ties to President Mnangagwa in arm twisting and corrupting the senior officials to implement this illegal transaction and massively prejudiced the ZDF by not paying any meaningful value for it.
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According to internal communications which were reviewed by The Sentry, GDI was cited as having a gross asset value of “well in excess” of $600 million at the time when the transaction done and yet no meaningful amount equivalent to 50% of US$600 million, which would have been US$300 million was ever paid to the ZDF by Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his accomplices up to now.
Instead, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, primarily assisted by his henchmen Obey Chimuka, Norman Chimuka, Simbarashe Chinyemba (now Chief Investment Officer of Mutapa Investment Fund), and Varaidzo Zifudzi (now Chief Legal Officer of Mutapa Investment Fund) hatched another fraudulent scam in 2024, leveraging off the shares they had effectively stolen from the ZDF and which were now held under Kuvimba Mining House and they grossly inflated the value of these assets to US$5.4 billion through valuing the transaction under their CBZ Capital controlled investment bank, ignoring issues of conflict of interest and sold them to the Government of Zimbabwe through the Mutapa Investment Fund in yet another opaque and non-transparent deal. As a result of this Mutapa transaction which effectively sold the shares in GDI which were illegally and fraudulent grabbed from the ZDF, Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his accomplices pocketed US$1.9 billion, and this was paid to them illegally by the Ministry of Finance.
The $1.9 billion in proceeds primarily benefited Tagwirei’s network, while the ZDF and the public treasury did not receive the appropriate value they were entitled to.
The execution the two heists, GDI Scandal and subsequent sale of Kuvimba Mining House to Mutapa Investment Fund, which are all intricately linked and led by Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his key accomplices namely Jozef Behr, Christopher Fourie, Ronelle Sinclair, Obey Chimuka, Norman Chimuka, Simbarashe Chinyemba (now Chief Investment Officer of Mutapa Investment Fund), Varaidzo Zifudzi (now Chief Legal Officer of Mutapa Investment Fund) in collusion with key Government of Zimbabwe officials in the Ministry of Finance namely Mthuli Ncube - Minister of Finance, George Guvamatanga - Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, John Mangudya - then Reserve Bank Governor and now Mutapa Investment Fund CEO and ZDF officials namely Martin Rushwaya - former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defense and now Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, the late General Sibusiso Moyo, Lieftenant General (Retd.) John Mupande and Colonel Siwinie Tauya, have all the hallmarks of organized crime, criminal abuse of office, fraud, collusion, grand corruption, cover up and deceit of the highest level.
The Great Dyke Investments scandal epitomizes the systemic corruption and state capture that has plagued Zimbabwe under the Second Republic with Kudakwashe Tagwirei operating with impunity and cover up from the highest office in undertaking these brazen heists of unimaginable proportion and suffering for the Zimbabwe people and specifically in this case, our Defense Forces.
Tagwirei and his associates, aided by corrupt military and government elites, orchestrated a brazen theft of national resources, depriving the ZDF and effectively the public of billions. Immediate action is required to hold perpetrators accountable, recover stolen assets, and restore transparency to Zimbabwe’s extractive industries.
Indications from our sources who shall remain anonymous, are that the ZDF has been carefully monitoring this situation since the grand heist was executed and they have preferred to move slowly and cautiously on the matter but are determined to eventually hold Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his network accountable for this unprecedent heist against their members and the country.
Certainly and finally, the reckoning is coming for the perpetrators of this grand heist against our Zimbabwe Defense Forces for their stolen 50% shareholding in GDI and the stealing of US$1.9 billion from the people of Zimbabwe under the fraudulent sale of Kuvimba Mining House to the Government of Zimbabwe through the Mutapa Investment Fund.
