Ex-Mbada Diamonds Boss Bid to Seize Ex-Son in Law’s Home Unravels in Court

A former executive at diamond miner Mbada Diamonds has become embroiled in a legal dispute after court documents used in an attempt to take over his former son-in-law’s property were contradicted by official registry records and rejected by the law firm linked to the original purchase.

Robert Mhlanga is named in High Court filings seeking to remove Kingsley Khumalo as a director of Avara Investments (Private) Limited, the company that owns the Harare property and to replace him with two men identified in the papers as Terence Tembo and Godfrey Mumba.

The move is being challenged after it emerged that the two men are gardeners employed by Mhlanga and that the documentation relied upon appears inconsistent with Companies Registry records.

The property was bought in 2011 through a shelf company created solely to hold the asset.

Corporate records from that time list Khumalo and his then wife, Patience Khumalo, as the only directors and shareholders of Avara Investments.

That position was confirmed in a letter dated 28 August 2020 from the law firm that handled the conveyancing.

“We dealt with Mr Kingsley Khumalo and Mrs Patience Khumalo in connection with the acquisition of the property,” the firm said, adding that neither it nor any third party had an interest in the company or its assets.

The letter makes no mention of Mr Mhlanga as a purchaser, lender or beneficiary.

Despite this, later court filings claim that both Khumalos were removed as directors in October 2020 and replaced by Mr Tembo and Mr Mumba.

No share certificates or transfer documents supporting the changes have been produced.

The papers nonetheless show the two men acting as directors and authorising eviction proceedings against Khumalo.

In 2021, Mr Tembo and Mr Mumba wrote to Mr Khumalo demanding that he vacate the property. His lawyers asked for proof of their authority. No response was received.

Companies Registry records from July 2021 continue to list Mr and Mrs Khumalo as directors—months after the alleged removals.

The registry filings also raise questions about timing.

The receipt number on Khumalo’s July 2021 annual return precedes by several thousand the number appearing on documents said to record changes made in 2020.

Legal practitioners say registry receipt numbers are sequential, suggesting the disputed documents were processed years later.

The court papers also name Isaac Mutepfe and Prudence Tapfumaneyi as shareholders. Ms Tapfumaneyi is Mhlanga’s niece while Mutepfe has worked as his personal assistant.

Public records indicate both were still in high school in 2011, when the property was bought, and neither appears in corporate records from that period.

No documents have been produced to explain how they became shareholders.

An attempt has also been made to frame the dispute as arising from a loan allegedly advanced by Mr Mhlanga to Mr Khumalo to buy the property.

Khumalo disputes this, and Mr Mhlanga is said to have downplayed the claim after it became clear that a loan would not confer control of the company.

Central to the filings is a letter attributed to the law firm Gallop & Blank, suggesting the property was acquired on Mr Mhlanga’s behalf.

The firm has disowned the letter, saying it does not originate from its records. The lawyer alleged to have written it was critically ill at the time, according to his son, who handled the transaction.

The contested documents underpin ongoing eviction proceedings.

Khumalo remains in occupation and is challenging the validity of the corporate actions relied upon.

The case centres on ownership of a property retained by Mr Khumalo following the division of marital assets, while other assets were transferred to his former wife.

The court is now being asked to determine whether the paperwork used to justify the takeover of the company—and the eviction—can stand.