Zanu-PF official up for fraud

THE Zanu-PF women's league secretary for transport in Bulawayo province, Nokuthula Sibanda, has been summoned to appear in court over claims she defrauded a woman of $10 000 on the pretext she was helping her clear her car at Beitbridge border post in April 2013.

Two other people from Inertia Agencies have been brought to the courts by Nobesuthu Ngwenya over the same allegations.

In her summons date-stamped at the Matabeleland North Provincial Magistrate Civil Court in Bulawayo on January 19 2015, Ngwenya cited James Majomela of Queens Park in Bulawayo, Corned Gonda of Dulibadzimu in Beitbridge, Inertia Agencies of Eastlea, Rhodesville, and Sibanda as first to fourth respondents respectively.

The summons were refiled this year to include Sibanda of Nkulumane 12 in Bulawayo, who had been excluded in Ngwenya's initial lawsuit which she had filed on January 20 2014.

Ngwenya said Majomela and Gonda had delivered the vehicle to her, but the former then took the vehicle registration papers, saying he had to go and register it in Harare and return with the number plates.

She said the number plates were not returned and she kept receiving numerous excuses on why they were not being delivered.

Ngwenya says, suspecting foul play, she reported the matter at Bulawayo Central Police Station.

She said as the trial began, the accused had for a while kept evading arrest. Ngwenya said Gonda was continuously evading trial and a warrant of arrest was issued in September 2013.

Ngwenya said her vehicle was impounded by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) for non-payment of duty two days after her initial report.

"Zimra established that Majomela and Gonda worked fraudulently with Inertia Agencies to illegally bond my vehicle and established that Inertia paid $400 to Zimra as a fine for the irregularities in that bond," she submitted.

"By paying that fine, Inertia Agencies was accepting doing wrong such that those irregularities caused my loss, wherefore, I pray that the defendants pay me $10 000 being value of the vehicle."

Ngwenya had earlier on last year won a default judgment against Sibanda, which granted her permission to attach her property as way of recovering the money she collected from her while purporting to assist in having the vehicle cleared.

But on January 9 this year, Sibanda filed notice of opposition to the attachment seeking a stay of execution, pending a hearing on her application for rescission of judgment on the matter.

She claimed she was not served with summons papers to notify her of the court case after an application for joinder had been granted in favour of Ngwenya. Sibanda said if she had been served with summons she would have filed an appearance to defend.

But responding to her opposition papers, Ngwenya said Sibanda was a wilful defaulter as she was served with an application for joinder on October 23 2014 at her Nkulumane 12 home.

"Your worship the applicant (Sibanda) has shown beyond reasonable doubt that she is in wilful default," Ngwenya argued.