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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A FORMER partner at the now defunct Bulawayo law firm, Cheda and Partners, allegedly defrauded a home seeker of more than $12,000.
Mlamuli Ncube, who has been in court recently on unrelated fraud charges, allegedly claimed to have the power of attorney to sell a house in Emganwini suburb.

In papers filed at the Bulawayo High Court last week, Canaan Sibanda says he paid Ncube $12,300 in November last year for the property which was registered to Susan Nyathi.

“An agreement of sale was then drawn up by Ncube on behalf of Nyathi, albeit known to the defendants that they were defrauding plaintiff,” Sibanda’s lawyers say.

Ncube, who had met Sibanda through an estate agent, allegedly undertook to forward the money to Nyathi who was not present during the signing of the agreement.

“I was convinced that the property indeed belonged to Nyathi, and Ncube advised me that Nyathi would return to Bulawayo on December 7, 2014, but she never came,” said Sibanda.

“This is a claim for transfer of House Number 1278 Emganwini or alternatively reimbursement of the purchase price of $12,300,” Sibanda says in his court papers.

Sibanda is also claiming an interest at a prescribed rate calculated from the date of demand to the date of full and final payment and the cost of suit. He also wants Nyathi to vacate the house within 48 hours of the granting of the order.

Ncube and Nyathi have not yet filed a notice to enter an appearance to defend the summons.

In February, Ncube was sued for $46,500 by a local businessman over another failed house deal. The alleged swindle involved a bogus estate agent, Charles Mawire, who sold the property for $60,000 and allegedly issued fake title deeds to the businessman.

Mawire has a pending court case for illegally operating as a legal practitioner.

Cheda and Partners ceased operating on May 15. The law firm has been under curatorship since February 5 after the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) detected alleged abuse of trust funds running into hundreds of thousands of dollars at the law firm.

Ncube and another senior partner, Sindiso Mazibisa, surrendered their practising certificates to the LSZ.

They were later suspended by the LSZ pending fraud investigations, one of which was the alleged theft of $335,000 by Mazibisa which was held in trust.

The third senior partner, Nqobizitha Ndlovu was later suspended by LSZ for interfering with the curator’s duties.

Cheda and Partners was a top range law firm in Zimbabwe with its head office in Bulawayo and branches in Gwanda and Victoria Falls.

The firm was established in 1992 by former senior Bulawayo High Court Judge, Justice Maphios Cheda.