South African billionaire Oppenheimer family wins case to block exploration at Zimbabwe ranch

The family of South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer has obtained a court injunction to prevent Pearline Mineral Exploration from conducting mining activities at its cattle ranch in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe, due to a potential threat to community and wildlife conservation.

According to a court ruling by Harare High Court Judge Siyabona Paul Musithu, Pearline Mineral Exploration must halt all “mineral mining activities” at the Shangani Ranch, a 65,000-hectare property that employs 400 people and keeps at least 8,000 cattle for beef export to the UK.

“The mineral exploration does not only have the potential to cause harm to the environment, but also to livestock and wildlife,” he said. “There is clearly a reasonable apprehension of harm if the project proceeds without due regard to the law.”

The court decision comes after the South African billionaire’s family filed a lawsuit on June 2 through Shangani Holistic to prevent Pearline Mineral Exploration from conducting mining activities on the Shangani Ranch.

Located in Zimbabwe’s southwestern province and known as a wildlife sanctuary because it serves as a corridor for migrating animals, the Shangani Ranch is thought to be rich in gold, silver, copper, antimony, lead, cobalt, manganese, zinc, nickel, chrome, graphite, and lithium.

Spanning more than 140,000 hectares, the ranch has been owned by the Oppenheimer family since 1937.

After land reform legislation in Zimbabwe officially began in 1980 with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement under the administration of late President Robert Mugabe, the property was reduced by over half to 65,000 hectares.

The land reform legislation was an attempt to equitably distribute land between Black subsistence farmers and White Zimbabweans of European ancestry, who had traditionally enjoyed political and economic status.

Between July 1964 and December 1979, the legislation that marked the end of the Rhodesian Bush War, the “Zimbabwe War of Liberation,” displaced at least 4,000 White commercial farmers.