BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
ZIMBABWE’S ambassador to Mozambique, Victor Matemadanda has taken his farming partner, Rumbidzai Mujuru, to the High Court after she allegedly barred him from selling the maize they produced together to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
In his application, Matemadanda cited Mujuru as respondent while his son, Itai, who is also a partner in the project, is the second applicant.
Matemadanda, Itai and Mujuru entered into a partnership agreement in 2020.
The terms were that they would grow maize together and share the profits after selling the grain to the GMB.
It is alleged that Matemadanda contributed 150 hectares of land at his Garowa Farm in Hurungwe as well as accommodation, water and other inputs, while Mujuru would provide employee wages.
Mujuru argued that Matemadanda breached the agreement and filed an application at the High Court seeking an order barring him and his son from interfering in the operations at the farm earlier this year.
She also claimed that Itai and his brothers had committed violence against her employees and demanded that they leave the farm.
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Itai, she claimed, had forbidden her from selling the produce to the GMB.
The matter brought by Mujuru was heard by High Court judge Justice Esther Muremba, who barred Matemadanda from interfering in the farming operations.
In the present application, the Matemadandas accuse Mujuru of fraudulently obtaining the interdict.
“I and my brothers never committed any acts of violence or threatened any employees with action or unspecified action. We never asked anyone to vacate the farm. How could we do so to our own employees who have assisted us to farm the maize in question? The allegations are not true,” Itai said in his founding affidavit.
“On July 18 … we discovered that the respondent (Mujuru) had attributed certain dispositions to Ishmael Chipfunde, which dispositions he had never made. I am not aware if this act of fraud was done to Priscilla Govere and Tinashe Bure too,” he submitted.
Itai said Chipfunde had denied deposing an affidavit which was purposefully attached to Mujuru’s urgent chamber application.
“He denies that the signature on that affidavit is his. He also denies the false allegations that were attributed to me and my brothers,” he said.
Matemadanda and his son are seeking an order for stay of execution on Justice Muremba’s ruling.
Follow Desmond on Twitter @DChingarande1
