via VP Mujuru in another scandal | The Herald 19 November 2014
SCANDALS continue to stalk Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru as she is fingered in yet another indignity involving a $105 000 loan dispute pitting her family mining venture, Great Zimbabwe Mining Circle Trust (GZMCT) and a Harare businesswoman. The Mujuru family is also accused of selling the businesswoman, Ms Anne Thokozani Ncube, a stolen posh vehicle, a VW Amarok, which later got her into trouble with the police.
Ms Ncube is battling to recover her money from the Mujuru family, but all her efforts have hit brick walls at every turn with the VP’s name being invoked whenever she makes demands.
Investigations by The Herald revealed that VP Mujuru’s daughter used an unregistered Notarial Deed of Trust to open a bank account with NMB, which they used to swindle Ms Ncube of her money.
They also used the VP to deny the woman her dues.
The VP’s daughter, Nyasha Noreen Nyorovai Mujuru, Dumisani Nkosi Nyoni, Clive Kudakwashe Madzikanda and Valentine Garacho are the trustees of GZMCT.
Harare lawyer Mr Nobert Musa Phiri, who was cited on the document as the notary public, did not sign the document, neither was it endorsed by the Deeds Office.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Phiri said he could not remember dealing with the quartet as a public notary.
He said for a document to be accepted as a Notarial Deed of Trust it has to meet certain legal requirements.
“If it is not executed and signed before a notary public, it is not a notarial document,” said Mr Phiri.
“However, it does not necessarily mean that there is no Deed of Trust.
“That document is a Deed which they created maybe with the intention of registering as a notarial document which does not seem to have been done in this case.”
Ms Ncube, who deposed of an affidavit, said sometime in December 2012, she was introduced to Nyasha by Garacho.
They allegedly told Ms Ncube that they wanted to borrow $105 000 for their mining venture and promised to repay the loan within a month, plus interest.
Ms Ncube said she gave $10 000 in cash to Garacho and Nyasha before she transferred $95 000 to Nyasha through a bank transfer with NMB.
“Repeated contact with Ms Nyasha Mujuru and Mr Garacho for payment has not yielded any payment and it has unfortunately been one excuse after another,” said Ms Ncube.
“At one point, they asked me to meet with Tirivanhu Mudariki whom they said handles their financial matters. I met with him and he stated that he was waiting for some Government approval for the release of the funds to us which never materialised.
“The attitude adopted has been that they are above any means to compel them to pay and that whatever means we adopt, we would be unsuccessful.”
Ms Ncube said she even approached VP Mujuru’s office over the matter, but only got as far as her personal assistant who took her request to her.
The PA advised Ms Ncube that VP Mujuru had said she must sue through the courts if she had a complaint.
Ms Ncube said she then approached a Mr Allen Lusio who had contacts with the VP’s office to try and pursue the payment, but again this failed.
Later, she said, Mr Garacho enticed her to buy the VW Amarok from Mudariki, which she agreed and paid for and was given a registration book bearing the registration number 00232430 for vehicle registration number ACV-2429.
The woman said Mr Garacho offered to assist with the change of ownership formalities.
He allegedly took the necessary documents from Ms Ncube and cash intended for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and disappeared.
“I was stopped by the police while driving the car,” she said. “After checking the vehicle, the police asked me where I had bought it from and if I knew the vehicle was on police wanted list.”
Ms Ncube said she then went to see Mr Mudariki who “very calmly asked me to return the vehicle to him to sort the issue out.”
“Now a little wiser, I refused until he had returned my money in full, which he did not.”
Ms Ncube said investigations pertaining to the status of the vehicle revealed that it was recorded as a stolen property in South Africa and it shared a chassis number with six other dubious vehicles in that country.
“That is, the vehicle is in fact a clone,” she said.
She said investigations here showed that the vehicle was registered under Kencarled Investments (Pvt) Ltd.
“No Zimra clearance formalities were adhered to,” she said. “Further investigations show that Kencarld Investments has brought in many other such dubious vehicles.”
Ms Ncube said she tried every means she could think of to seek redress, but when people heard the personalities involved no assistance was given and she feared that she had been cruelly relived of her hard-earned cash.
A source close to developments said what raised concern was that the victim is an ordinary person and the perpetrators are people of major influence, the Vice President’s daughter who used her mother’s name to get money and refuse to pay it back.
‘’This case exposes the poverty of the Vice President’s claim in her advertisements in the Daily News that the allegations raised against her are malicious, false and hurtful. The reason why VP Mujuru’s post has become untenable is because many victims who over the years were silenced have become emboldened to come forward. There is a deluge and many of their claims do not even go back many years,’’ said a source close to developments.
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