A ZIMBABWEAN court has fined Labenmon Investments, a Chinese-owned cement maker, US$3 000 for contempt of court after it was found guilty of proceeding with operations in Hurungwe, in defiance of an existing court order.
On 4 February 2025, High Court Judge Justice Philda Muzofa ordered Labenmon Investments to stop carrying out further commencement works at Wih-Zim Construction Material Investments Cement Manufacturing plant in Magunje, in Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West province, pending the outcome of investigations by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) pertaining to the alleged breach of the special conditions on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Certificate. Justice Muzofa’s order followed protests by some villagers, who reside in Chasara and Kapere villages in Magunje, who are aggrieved that Labenmon Investments had invaded their farming and grazing land.
But despite the existence of the High Court order, the villagers complained that the cement maker had wilfully defied the court order and had not ceased operations as ordered by Justice Muzofa and on 26 February 2025 they filed an application for contempt of court against Labenmon Investments accusing it of violating the terms of the court order. The villagers, who were led by Gift Kapere and Jonathan Chimufombo and were represented by Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Kelvin Kabaya of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, cited Labenmon Investments its Operations Director Daniel Mlalazi as respondents in their court application.
While hearing of the application for contempt of court against the cement maker was pending in the High Court, EMA fined Labenmon Investments US$5 000 for committing some environmental violations in Hurungwe after realising that it had failed to comply with the conditions set in the EIA Certificate.
In an inspection report compiled by EMA after it conducted an inspection visit at Wih-Zim Construction Material Investments Cement Manufacturing plant in July, the environmental watchdog found Labenmon Investments not to have complied with the conditions of the EIA Certificate numbers L10000034346 and L10000099080, which were supposed to be adhered to before commencement of works.
On 30 September 2025, Justice Muzofa granted the villagers’ application for contempt of court after finding Labenmon Investments and Mlalazi to be in contempt of the High Court’s provisional order, which she issued on 4 February 2025.
Justice Muzofa ordered Labenmon Investments and Mlalazi to immediately stop all works at the Wih-Zim Construction Material Investments Cement Manufacturing plant until the initial matter is finalised.
The High Court Judge also ordered Labenmon Investments to pay a fine of US$3 000 for contempt of court within one month from the date of issue of her court order.
In addition, Justice Muzofa sentenced Mlalazi to 30 days imprisonment wholly suspended on condition that he ensures that Labenmon complies with the High Court order.
ENDS
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