Former Kwese Partner Told To Return Documents Seized During Raid On Econet

Dr Dish – remember them- recently got a verdict on their attempt to raid Econet’s premises to present as evidence in a dispute between the two company.

This dispute has been so drawn out that, Econet Media and Kwese TV which are a central part of the story are no longer existent after, Econet Media declared bankrupt a back in 2019.

A history lesson

When Kwese started airing its content years ago, they did so using a licence belonging to Dr Dish. This arrangement lasted for a few months and Econet and Dr Dish parted ways.

For Kwese to use this licence they had given Dr Dish a US$634 000 advance for them to acquire said licence and following the termination of said licence, BAZ (Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe) gave Dr Dish back the 634 000.

Econet claimed that they had an agreement with Dr Dish that the company would pay this money back + a 10% annual interest and Dr Dish never did so. Dr Dish actually claimed instead, that Econet owed them 6.8 million something we doubted at the time and has been dismissed by the court recently.

Econet Media never gave them any evidence of what numbers they had subscribed. He says they then invoiced Econet for $6.8 million based on their estimates of how many subscribers Kwese had accrued. This figure sounds too high because working with the 5% Dr Dish was entitled to, what they are asking for assumes that Kwese had generated $136 million for Econet in Zimbabwe during the time that they were partners.

Econet, Cassava Accused Of Obstruction Of Justice After Defying High Court Order

Dr Dish was then taken to court by Kwese which was looking to get its money back but they sought a court order which would allow them to raid Kwese premises to obtain evidence that proved that they did not owe Econet Media anything and their agreement was being misrepresented.

Econet stopped them from doing so on the basis that Dr Dish’s appeal which was granted allowed them to raid Econet Media computers and documents. When the court sheriff and Dr Dish representatives came to execute that order they did so on EcoCash hardware and were asked to leave.

What’s happening now?

That was back in 2019, and fast forward over a year later the High Court has now ruled that Dr Dish failed to show that they actually needed to raid Econet premises.

The ruling also means that Dr Dish should return all the papers they had seized when they executed the court order last year.

The reason for the dismissal of Dr Dish’s appeal is that they had waited 13 months to act on it and had failed to substantiate their allegations that Econet owed them US$6.8 million.