Brothers-in-Law Lock Horns in $29m Spitzkop Land Fraud Case

By Judith Nyuke

The trial over a $29 million land dispute in Spitzkop resumed at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on Thursday with the original seller of the property alleging that ownership was transferred behind his back.

The case pits two brothers-in-law, Tendai Jemwa and Thomas Masango, against each other in a long-running dispute over land ownership and business dealings.

Jemwa is accused of fraud.

Testifying in court, Charlie Zinto (68) said that in 2007 Jemwa and Masango approached him with an offer to buy his former plot at 58 Spitzkop Road.

Zinto told the court that the deal was meant to be executed under Ten Jem Properties later to be transferred into Ten Jem Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd.

However, he alleged that he was never fully paid for the land and later discovered that ownership had been transferred without his knowledge.

“I went to court to cancel the agreement, but the judgment went in favour of the purchasers,” Zinto said adding that he only realised afterwards that the transfer to Ten Jem Consultancy had been finalised without his consent.

The State, represented by prosecutor Ephraim Zinyandu alleges that Masango and Jemwa verbally agreed in 2007 to go into business together and jointly purchased several properties including the Spitzkop land.

The Spitzkop plot, worth $29 million had been bought from Zinto who himself had purchased it from a man named Jeremiah Chamba and was still awaiting transfer of the title deed.

At the time of the transaction, the property was still under Chamba’s title deed number 10146/89.

Court papers show that Zinto provided Jemwa and Masango with his own sale agreement along with the earlier one he had signed with Chamba.

The brothers-in-law then registered the land under Ten Jem Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd a company owned by Jemwa.

It was agreed, according to the State that Masango would become a 50% shareholder and director in the company once the property was transferred.

However, prosecutors allege that in 2012 Jemwa secretly retrieved the transfer documents from their lawyer before the registration was finalised effectively cutting Masango out of the agreement.

The trial was remanded to 11 September for continuation.