Home Affairs co-minister Kembo Mohadi has been accused of using his political clout to forcibly takeover a Beitbridge company owned by a white businessman after he was allotted free shares in the firm.
The businessman, Reginald McGillivray Dawson, made an application at the Bulawayo High Court on January 10 to block the alleged grab by Mohadi and another director, John Josiah Moyo. Moyo was also given free shares after working for Dawson for over 30 years.
In the court papers, Dawson, who is a permanent resident, accused Mohadi of intimidation.
He said the minister, who is cited in the court papers as the second respondent, went to the extent of threatening to fix me.
Dawson said he started the company from scratch with his wife Susan Jane Dawson.
As it is, the second respondent (Mohadi) has threatened to ensure that I am deported from Zimbabwe, reads part of the court papers.
This comes out in the minutes (of a purported company meeting attended by Mohadi in December last year where Dawson was reportedly stripped of his directorship of Nerry Investments) and I feel he might actually carry out his threat as he is the head of the ministry which is in charge of residence permits.
Dawson said he was initially scared to approach the courts because of Mohadis political influence, but now felt he had nothing to lose.
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In the minutes of the purported AGM signed by Mohadi and annexed to the court application, Mohadi and Moyo resolved that Dawson be stripped of the directorship of Nerry Investments because he holds other directors to (sic) ransom showing no respect to them as he wants to be the only decision maker in the organisation.
In the same minutes, the white businessman is accused of being a racist, selfish, greedy individual whose wish is against the success of other people, especially black people.
The directors also resolved that Dawson should be stripped of his permanent residence permit as he has done a lot of bad than good.
But Dawson dismissed the allegations of being (a) racist (and), murderer and siphoning funds as hogwash and said he was considering pursuing separate legal action on the matter.
The businessman said he had known Moyo for more than 30 years and went out of my way to acquire for him movable and immovable property and to educate his children for him before he turned against him.
Dawson said in 2004, he decided to offer Mohadi (10%), Moyo (20%) and former Zanu PF politburo member Thenjiwe Lesabe (10%) some shares in his company.
He and his wife remained with 60% of the shares through their holding company Red Queen Trading.
No other allotments have been made since, although at one time, the second respondent (Mohadi) through undue influence instructed me to re-allocate the shares which would have had the effect of depriving us of our majority shareholding, he said.
However, I did not give effect to the illegal instruction. For the record, I must state that the shares that were allotted to the second respondent and third respondent(Moyo) and the late Mrs Lesabe have never been paid for but were given to the recipients purely out of goodwill by myself and my wife.
But in a responding affidavit which is part of Mohadi and Moyos notice of opposition, filed at the High Court on January 23, Moyo claimed the submission on the company shareholding reflected the white businessman was approaching the court with dirty hands.
Moyo maintained that shareholding of the company was changed in December 2009 to ensure that each party now had 25% shares and Dawson wrote a letter to that effect.
Further, his accusation of undue influence is not only defamatory, but totally unsubstantiated and without merit and should be treated as such, Moyo submitted. Dawson said since the fallout with Mohadi and Moyo, Nerry Investments was now being run without the involvement of his wife, Jane, and Red Queen Trading.
