Dembare ownership wrangle re-ignited

The battle to control Dynamos Football Club - one of the oldest football clubs in Zimbabwe - is raging on, seven years after an application was initially launched at the High Court.

The case has, however, taken a new twist after Dynamos Trust chairperson Isaac Nhema, filed an application seeking to have the Trust joined as a party to the court proceedings.

In the application, Dynamos Football Club and Dynamos Trust are the applicants while Richard Chiminya (late), Farai Munetsi, Frederick Mkwesha (late), Bernard Mariot Lusengo, Sunday Chidzambwa, Charles Gwatidzo, Robson Rundaba, Brian Kashangura, Kenni Mubaiwa, Harrison Mbewe, Mike George, David Mandigora, Owen Chandamale and Casper Muzenda are cited as respondents.

"…the applicant filed the urgent chamber application in HC1820/10 followed by yet another court application in HC2623/10 in a bid to interdict and restrain the malfeasance and offensive activities of the respondents. With time taking its toll, some of the respondents have since been deceased and necessitating substitution by others in amendments of the pleadings further fuelling the chaos and anarchy.

"What prompted the filing of the applications was in order to curb, if not eliminate altogether, the respondents' conduct which was inimical to and subversive of the running of the affairs of the applicant and Dynamos Football Club," the court heard.

Nhema said the Trust has a direct and substantial interest in the matters before the court.

"Having secured the relief sought in the present application, it is desirable for the board of trustees to probe the possibility of invoking the participation in the court matters of other stakeholders such as Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), who are directly involved in the key aspects the affairs of the applicant and the football club," the court heard.

He further said that as the cases rage on, the declaration of dividends held in shareholding in Dynamos Football Club and the legitimate expectations of the beneficiaries of the Trust have been rendered obsolete.

"The majority of the shareholders and beneficiaries in the Trust are well past retirement age and realistically if the matters are allowed to drag on at the pace they are, they in all probability might not live to see the benefits come to fruition.

"The stark reality is that the licentiousness and harm that was sought to be stamped out by the court actions namely the malpractices over the safe custody, maintenance and control of the assets in the applicant overburdened by liabilities and unconscionable practices by the respondents rein unbridled," Nhema said.

Some of the respondents - Lusengo, Gwatidzo, Mubaiwa and Chandamale - have since challenged the application claiming Nhema has no authority to file an affidavit on behalf of the Trust.

"In respect of the first and third (Chiminya and Mukwesha) who at the time of the institution of the present application were deceased, the applicant's application ought to fail," the court heard.

"Regrettably, the parties in this matter have been involved in litigation at the centre of which is the control of Dynamos Football Club and its institutions. It is respectfully submitted therefore that in a matter which is marred by multiplicity of litigation of such a nature, the production of a resolution to confirm that authority to institution litigation is clearly indispensable."

The respondents said that the application is fatally defective and must be dismissed, adding that when the Trust was formed the court applications in which Nhema is seeking a joinder had already been launched.

The matter is yet to be finalised before the High Court.