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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
THE widow of the late former Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Seiso Moyo is locked in a fierce legal wrangle with her two stepdaughters over their late father’s estate.

Moyo, who was also MDC-T legislator for Nketa, died in December 2012 due to heart failure.

Moyo’s daughters, Glenda Paballo and Beatrice Joyce took their stepmother Mrs Sinini Moyo to court accusing her of fraudulently inheriting their late father’s properties without consulting all the beneficiaries. Sinini is the surviving spouse of the late Moyo.

The estate under Number DRB34/13 was prepared by CLW Anderson, and confirmed by the Assistant Master of the High Court.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva has since nullified the final liquidation and distribution account in the estate of the late Moyo, saying it was fraught with gross irregularities.

Justice Takuva also ordered the Assistant Master of the High Court to convene a special meeting involving all interested parties to resolve the dispute affecting the estate.

The ruling by Justice Takuva follows an application by Glenda and Beatrice challenging the final liquidation and distribution of their late father’s estate.

They argued that some of their father’s assets were deliberately left out of his estate by their step mother.

The final liquidation and distribution account excluded a house in Bulawayo and another in Beitbridge as well as a top-of-the-range vehicle, which Moyo used as his official Government car. The applicants, through their lawyer Mr Jabulani Mhlanga of Masiye-Moyo and Associates, argued that the executor erred and applied the wrong formula in distributing the estate.

“The executor did not fully apply his mind into the objections and concerns raised by the beneficiaries in winding up the estate of the late Seiso Moyo. There is a serious malicious misrepresentation of facts by Sinini and the executor rendering the final liquidation and distribution account biased and one sided,” said the applicants’ lawyer.

Mr Mhlanga said the executor in the final distribution account did not consider the educational needs and requirements of Beatrice who is studying in South Africa. Sinini through her lawyer Mr Robert Ndlovu of R Ndlovu and Company said the car, a Land Rover Discovery, could not be part of the estate assets, arguing that at the time of her husband’s death it was owned by the Government.

Sinini contended that she had applied to buy the car in her capacity as the surviving spouse hence the contract of sale was between her and the Government.

She also argued that in terms of the law, the house in Bulawayo’s Nketa 7 suburb and a house in Beitbridge’s low density area were matrimonial properties registered under her name.

Moyo was married to the late Constance Moyo and the marriage was blessed with Beatrice and Glenda.

During the subsistence of their marriage, they acquired properties, among them, a house in Newton West in Bulawayo. Upon Constance’s death, both applicants were awarded 50 percent share of the house with their father. In 2002, the late MP married Sinini and they acquired properties during the subsistence of their marriage.

@mashnets