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Bogus estate agents targeting widows

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BULAWAYO Metropolitan Affairs minister, Angeline Masuku has advised widows to guard against losing their properties to fraudsters and bogus estate agents.

BULAWAYO Metropolitan Affairs minister, Angeline Masuku has advised widows to guard against losing their properties to fraudsters and bogus estate agents.

BY NIZBERT MOYO

Masuku made the call on Monday after several women sought her intervention to reverse illegal takeover of their properties.

Recently, Masuku assisted an Emganwini widow, Lolinda Mukube, to repossess her house which had been fraudulently sold by a stranger.

Mukube told Southern Eye that sometime last year a suspected fraudster fraudulently obtained an inheritance order which he later used to sell the property.

“I got the shock of my life when I discovered that my house had been extended to a four-roomed house while I was out of town. I made a follow up with Bulawayo City Council and was told to take back my ownership,’’ she said.

The widow said she also went to the High Court where she discovered two file numbers attached to her property.

“This is very shocking, how can this happen, is it because I am a widow? I ended up taking my issue to Bulawayo resident minister,” Mukube said.

Contacted for comment, Masuku confirmed a number of women had sought her assistance after being dispossessed of their properties, even by the estate agents.

“It’s true so many women come to my office of which I cannot remember all of them, but I advise them to seek assistance from organisations that deal with women’s rights. I tell them that crying does not help them, they should put their houses in order to avoid such incidents,’’ she said.

Early this year, another woman from Nketa, Evelyn Phiri faced a similar problem when her house was allegedly fraudulently sold by one Ncube to several people.

The elderly woman claimed her son had bought the property for her. When Phiri’s neighbours spotted the messenger of court’s truck, they allegedly gathered at the property and blocked court officials from evicting her.

Phiri said a woman only identified as Duduzile ordered her to leave the house and threatened to throw her out if she did not comply.