Pius Chinyera

Former majority shareholder in CAPS Pharmaceutical Holdings, Fredrick Mutanda has been accused of interfering in the on-going fruitful arbitration process between Government and CAPS Pharmaceutical Holdings on the shareholding structure, a move that has been viewed as counter-productive for the revival of the health sector.

Mutanda has threatened to apply for an interdict at the High Court to stop the arbitration process where retired Supreme Court Judge Ahmed Ebrahim is presiding over a case on a sale of shares agreement between Government and Mutanda. Mutanda claims that the sale of shares was cancelled in January 2020 after Government defaulted on the agreement. As such, he wants neither Government nor the RBZ to be part of the arbitration process. Mutanda also claims that the case at hand only involves CAPS Pharmaceutical Trust and CAPS Holdings.

This is despite progress made on the matter. At pre-arbitration meeting chaired by Judge Ebrahim on 21 May 2020, Government and CAPS Pharmaceutical Trust represented by lawyers Ardington Chinake and Walter Mufuka respectively, agreed to make requisite submissions and counter submissions by 18 July 2021 to pave way for further negotiations.

Interference by Mutanda is also inconsiderate of the noticeable rebound of CAPS Pharmaceuticals after government injected US$6.9 million through the RBZ, funds which were used to clear the firm’s salary and utility arrears, and for the acquisition of raw materials.

Capacity utilisation currently stands at 100% for liquid medicine and 40% for tablets from a 2016 low of 30% and 5% respectively, when Mutanda was still the major shareholder. To date Caps Pharmaceuticals has a staff compliment of 120, up from 48 employees. In addition, the firm now has 100 consumables against the previous 24 product lines before the Government intervention, progress which Mutanda wants reversed.