A HARARE couple which has taken United Family International Church leader Emmanuel Makandiwa to court for alleged loss of revenue following the sale of their house, is expected to stand in the dock today facing allegations of double-selling the house under dispute.
BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
Blessing and Upenyu Mashangwa will today appear before High Court judge Justice Owen Tagu after a Harare woman, Jemina Gumbo, who bought the house from them in 2012, raised fraud charges against the couple.
The couple has been in the spotlight after taking Makandiwa to the High Court challenging his prophecies.
The couple claims they lost $200 000 after their house was attached and sold for $500 000 when they failed to service a debt despite Makandiwa’s “prophecy” that the auction would be cancelled.
Gumbo claims the couple had sold the same house to her in 2012 for $800 000.
She claims to have made the payment on March 1, 2012 into the couple’s investment account with McDowells International Properties Investment.
In a High Court application case number 6476/14, Gumbo, through her lawyers Sande and Associates, claimed she bought the property in Harare’s Marlborough suburb owned by Carmeco Investments, a company where the Mashangwas were directors.
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It is the same property the Mashangwas claim was attached and sold for $500 000 instead of $700 000, which saw them incur a $200 000 loss, which they are now claiming from Makandiwa.
According to Gumbo’s court papers, the Mashangwas cancelled the agreement of sale on February 20, 2013, arguing they had not received payment from McDowells, which had since been shut down by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Gumbo and the couple then entered into an agreement stating how she would be repaid her money. But the Mashangwas failed to honour the promise after successfully attaching MacDowells’ Masvingo properties.
She alleged the Mashangwas, “despite demand on several occasions”, “failed, neglected or refused to pay the said amount”.
On the other hand, the Mashangwas want Makandiwa to pay them $1,7 million for recommending a de-registered lawyer, Tichaona Mawere, who later duped them, among other claims.
Responding to the claim, Makandiwa’s lawyer, Advocate Lewis Uriri, last week dismissed as false the claims that the couple’s Marlborough property was attached and sold for $500 000 to recover a debt they owed ZB Bank. He said the Mashangwas were never indebted to ZB Bank as alleged.
He also said the property in question was never attached in execution as alleged by the Mashangwas, but was separately sold to two legal persons at higher prices and the Mashangwas realised value for a double sale.
Makandiwa also denied knowledge of the $1,1 million that the Mashangwas claim to have contributed to the church.
