The shocking death of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed mining giant RioZim Limited’s billionaire owner, Harpal Randhawa, has returned to haunt the empire — two years after his private jet exploded into a heap of metal near Murowa Diamonds, the crown jewel he once controlled.
In High Court papers filed on April 16, Justice Chinhema, general secretary of the Zimbabwe Diamonds and Allied Minerals Workers Union, laid bare the scale of RioZim’s turmoil. He painted a grim picture of a mining behemoth rapidly sliding into collapse, its fall triggered by the death of its charismatic owner.
“It is disheartening to disclose that the first respondent’s (RioZim) challenges were exacerbated after the majority shareholder passed away in a plane crash,” Chinhema said.
“The situation worsened due to insufficient shareholder support and a lack of additional capital injection,” he told the High Court.
Randhawa’s Cessna 206 dropped from the Zimbabwean sky on a sombre morning — late September 2023.
But it was not just a crash. It appears this was the moment the lights began to dim on one of Zimbabwe’s most strategic mining empires.
In the wreckage near Mashava, as flames engulfed the shattered fuselage, RioZim began its slow, agonising descent, the court papers showed. But reached for comment this week, a RioZim spokesperson declined to explain the state of the business.
Randhawa was no ordinary businessman. Revered in global mining circles, he brought vision, ambition, and capital to RioZim, transforming it from a struggling relic into a diversified force, with tentacles in gold, coal, nickel, and diamonds. But the same hand that built the empire was the only one steady enough to steer it. Without him, the house has started to burn.
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The same crash that claimed Randhawa’s life also took his son Amer and four others. It gutted the company from within. In its wake, RioZim issued a sombre tribute: “Randhawa, the visionary owner of the company, was not only a remarkable leader but also a cherished mentor ... His unwavering dedication and relentless pursuit of excellence have been the cornerstone of our organisation.”
Months later, that cornerstone has crumbled.
Today, five out of RioZim’s eight assets are under care and maintenance. The company is deep in debt — owing millions to workers, power producer Zesa Holdings, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, and a growing list of creditors.
This is according to the High Court papers.
The application is a desperate plea to place the firm under administration — a move seen by union leaders as the last defence against total ruin.
Chinhema’s warning is blunt: Randhawa’s death robbed the company of its financial muscle and strategic compass. Without his leadership, RioZim is a shadow of itself.
The crash remains vivid in national memory. The aircraft had departed Harare at dawn, bound for Murowa Diamond Mine. It went down early morning just outside Mashava. Randhawa was RioZim’s talisman. Whether navigating boardroom deals in New Delhi or walking Zimbabwe’s mine shafts, his grip on the firm was total. His death left a vacuum too vast to fill. Since then, insiders say efforts to stabilise the company have been chaotic — bogged down by indecision and starved of fresh capital.
Union leaders now believe that administration is not an admission of defeat — but a calculated bid for survival. “Administration isn’t defeat,” Chinhema insists. “It’s a lifeline.”
Once a shining success story in Zimbabwe’s mining sector, RioZim now teeters on the edge. Its sparkle hasn’t been dulled by bad geology or market tides — but by the loss of a man whose drive once held it all together.
As the legal showdown unfolds, one truth stands out: Randhawa’s death was not just a personal tragedy — it was a seismic blow to Zimbabwe’s resource sector. And unless bold steps are taken now, RioZim may soon be remembered more for the upheavals than for its former glory.
