By Staff Reporter
KADOMA — As Jameson Rushwaya faces court over last Friday’s armed invasion at Tolrose Mine, previously issued official letters have resurfaced, shedding light on a long history of violent incursions and illegal mining activity at the site.
These documents, some dating back nearly a decade, show that police and government authorities were formally notified of threats, assaults, and ownership disputes long before the latest attack.
The correspondence does not constitute new evidence in the ongoing case but highlights a persistent pattern of reported lawlessness and repeated appeals for state intervention that appear to have gone largely unheeded.
A complaint letter dated October 19, 2025, addressed to Police General Headquarters by Patterson Timba of Tolrose Investments (Private) Limited, details alleged systematic police inaction in response to escalating violence attributed to Rushwaya and his associates.
Timba wrote that officers “routinely refuse to take our reports” despite employees being “assaulted and evicted from their homes at gun point in the dead of night with firearms discharged against them.”
The letter also claims that no arrests were made, and the District Superintendent of Police allegedly shielded Rushwaya from accountability.
Earlier documents reinforce these concerns.
A determination from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, issued on March 31, 2016, confirmed Tolrose Mine’s ownership by Tolrose Investments following a dispute with Xelad Investments.
Addressed to the then Commissioner General of Police, Augustine Chihuri, the ministry warned that unauthorised operators were extracting gold illegally, outside the legal depository system, and urged police intervention to prevent “chaos and anarchy in the mining sector.”
Similarly, a 2025 letter from the Provincial Mining Director for Mashonaland West formally requested police assistance under Section 348 of the Mines and Minerals Act to remove illegal miners from Tolrose, stressing that no operations should occur without the direct supervision of the appointed mine manager.
The resurfacing of these historical documents comes as Rushwaya appears in Kadoma court, charged over an armed incursion during which mine security personnel were allegedly disarmed and equipment seized, in breach of an existing court order.
Legal experts warn that repeated enforcement failures risk entrenching a culture of impunity.
“It is a fundamental principle that no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands; no one is permitted to dispossess another forcibly or wrongfully,” one said.
The case has reignited scrutiny of the influence of powerful individuals in Zimbabwe’s mining sector and whether political connections have undermined the rule of law in disputes involving valuable mineral claims.
