The Constitutional Court has given the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) the go-ahead to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that upheld a US$10.7 million judgment in favour of contractor Adlecraft Investments over mining work in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Justice Rita Makarau, sitting with Justices Anne-Mary Gowora and Bharat Patel, granted ZCDC direct access to the apex court, NewZimbabwe.com, Mining Index Zimbabwe and the Daily News reported on Tuesday. The Daily News said the unanimous decision was handed down on 19 October.

What the court decided

According to NewZimbabwe.com, the court found ZCDC had prospects of showing that the Supreme Court did not adequately deal with key issues raised in its appeal. That opens the way for a full constitutional application, which ZCDC was ordered to file within 10 days, with no order as to costs.

The ruling does not cancel the debt. NewZimbabwe.com reported that the Constitutional Court has not overturned the High Court's monetary award or found that the debt was extinguished. It has only allowed ZCDC to argue that the Supreme Court's handling of the appeal breached its rights to a fair hearing and access to justice.

"Merely certifying the judgment as correct without more is, in my view, insufficient," Justice Makarau said, as quoted by NewZimbabwe.com. She said an appeal court must independently examine contested evidence rather than simply endorse a lower court's findings.

Assets protected for now

In a separate report, NewZimbabwe.com said the Constitutional Court had also stayed execution of the judgment, which it put at close to US$18 million with interest, while ZCDC's application was pending. The order barred Adlecraft, its lawyers and the Sheriff of Zimbabwe from attaching or selling ZCDC property. ZCDC had argued that enforcement could cripple its operations and put more than 1,300 jobs at risk, the outlet reported. Mining Index Zimbabwe also reported that the ruling halts a pending asset execution.

How the dispute began

Mining Index Zimbabwe reported that ZCDC hired Adlecraft on 8 February 2016 to provide diamond mining and haulage services at Chiadzwa. Adlecraft later sued for unpaid fees, first claiming US$13.34 million. The High Court ordered ZCDC to pay US$10.7 million plus costs on the punitive scale, and the Supreme Court dismissed ZCDC's appeal, which Mining Index dated to June 2026.

The points in dispute

The case turns on two questions, according to the reports. The first is a US$4.34 million balance that Adlecraft says was still owed at the end of 2018. ZCDC says it paid this in local currency in August 2019 after Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019 converted US dollar debts at parity. Adlecraft disputes this and says those payments covered other expenses, NewZimbabwe.com reported.

The second is prescription: whether the claim expired under the Prescription Act, which generally gives three years from when a contractual debt falls due. Justice Makarau also questioned the Supreme Court's reliance on payments ZCDC made in May 2023, which the Constitutional Court had earlier described as involuntary payments made to avoid execution.

Mining Index Zimbabwe reported that ZCDC had also argued in its earlier appeal that the High Court relied on fraudulent email evidence. That is ZCDC's allegation, and no court has made such a finding.

What happens next

Mining Index Zimbabwe said a date for the full hearing has yet to be set. Until the Constitutional Court rules on the merits, the High Court award stands. Neither company's comment was included in the reports.

Note: The Daily News headline describes Adlecraft as the party granted direct access, but its own report and the other outlets describe ZCDC as the applicant.

Sources: NewZimbabwe.com (Mary Taruvinga), 27 Oct 2026: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/zcdc-gets-chance-to-challenge-us10-7m-judgment-over-chiadzwa-mining-services/ · NewZimbabwe.com, stay of execution report: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/state-diamond-miner-wins-temporary-reprieve-as-constitutional-court-halts-execution-of-nearly-us18-million-debt/ · Mining Index Zimbabwe, 27 Oct 2026: https://www.miningindex.co.zw/2026/10/27/constitutional-court-rescues-zcdc-from-us10-7m-chiadzwa-diamond-field-debt-judgment/ · allAfrica (republishing NewZimbabwe), 27 Oct 2026: https://allafrica.com/stories/202610270342.html · Daily News (Yvonne Ncube), 27 Oct 2026: https://dailynews.co.zw/adlecraft-obtains-direct-access-to-appeal/

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