Zanu PF chef in bid to evict Trevor Ncube's mother

By Lance Guma
03 March 2006

A bid by a former provincial governor and Zanu PF provincial chairman, Jacob Mudenda to evict media mogul Trevor Ncube’s mother from her house in Bulawayo, backfired in the courts last week. The property, estimated at Z$1 billion, is registered under Kroutz Investments (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Ncube and was bought for use by his mother and two nephews.

Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme reports that the involvement of Mudenda has raised eyebrows since he is a lawyer with T. Hara & Partners the law firm that sought the eviction. He was cited in court documents as having had an alleged interest in the same property. Around March 2005, Mudenda tried to buy the house but could not raise the money demanded. His plan was to rent out the property to foreign students attending the National University of Science and Technology. Ncube however offered Z$820 million which was accepted and the sale went through mid July 2005.

On the 14th of February 2006 Ncube’s mother was served with a notice of eviction. Ncube says he was ‘shocked and surprised that an the interim order evicting her was granted “without any prior demand or notice whatsoever to the occupants." He argued before the courts that the proceedings were unconstitutional since natural justice demanded that both sides are heard in a dispute. Clearly suspicious is the special Power of Attorney granted by the courts, which did not "indicate the identity of the person who purported to sign as a notary public." This leaves the possibility Mudenda used his influence to get officials at the magistrate’s court to fraudulently sign the papers.

Asked to comment on the case Mudenda said, "talk to the lawyers concerned, Mathonsi and Ndove, otherwise no comment." The Zanu PF official was implicated in the Willowgate Scandal of 1989, which saw government ministers being convicted of corruption. In 2002, Mudenda was reportedly involved in the recruitment of youth militia (green bombers) in Matebeleland North. In 2004 he was one of six Zanu PF Chairpersons who attended the Tsholotsho meeting allegedly organised by Professor Jonathan Moyo. He has also been reported in various media as being involved in illegal safari hunting.