By Staff Correspondent
HARARE – Former Mbada Diamonds executive Robert Mhlanga (pictured) is at the centre of a growing legal storm after documents filed in the High Court in an attempt to seize his former son-in-law’s property were disavowed by the law firm that handled the original transaction and contradicted by official Companies Registry records.
The documents purport to remove Kingsley Khumalo as a director of Avara Investments (Private) Limited, the company that owns the property, and to replace him with Terence Tembo and Godfrey Mumba.
It has since emerged that Tembo and Mumba are, in fact, Mhlanga’s gardeners.
The filings rely on corporate resolutions and registry forms that, on their face, conflict with contemporaneous registry data and written confirmation from the conveyancing firm responsible for the original transfer, pointing to what legal practitioners describe as a forgery-driven attempt at dispossession.
Property Purchased Through Shelf Company
The property was acquired in 2011 through a shelf company supplied solely for the purpose of holding the asset. Corporate records from that period list Khumalo and his then-wife Patience Khumalo as the only directors and shareholders of Avara Investments.
That position is 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 wrote.
“The shelf company was made available for the purpose of purchasing the property and its transfer. We confirm that neither this firm nor any third party has any interest in Avara Investments (Private) Limited or its assets.”
The correspondence makes no reference to Mhlanga as a purchaser, lender, or beneficiary and advises that any disputes should be addressed to the company’s shareholders — identified in the firm’s records as the Khumalos.
Gardeners Named as Directors
Despite this, court papers filed in later proceedings purport to show that both Khumalos were removed as directors in October 2020 and replaced by Tembo and Mumba.
No share certificates, allotment resolutions, or transfer instruments supporting their appointment accompany the filings. The documents nonetheless depict the two men acting as directors with authority to remove existing directors and initiate eviction proceedings.
There is no indication in any corporate records reviewed by this publication that either Tembo or Mumba had any ownership interest in Avara Investments or any corporate role prior to their sudden appearance in the filings.
Eviction Demand and Silence
In 2021, Tembo and Mumba wrote to Khumalo demanding that he vacate the property.
Lawyers representing Khumalo responded by requesting documentary proof of the pair’s claimed directorship and shareholding. No response was forthcoming.
Shareholders Identified as Family and Staff
The filings further identify Isaac Mutepfe and Prudence Tapfumaneyi as shareholders of Avara Investments.
Tapfumaneyi is a niece of Robert Mhlanga, while Mutepfe has worked as his personal assistant.
Public records indicate that both Mutepfe and Tapfumaneyi were still in high school in 2011, when Avara Investments acquired the property, and neither appears in any corporate documentation from that period.
No share certificates, allotment resolutions, or transfer instruments have been produced to explain how or when the alleged shareholding was acquired.
Registry Records Contradict Court Filings
Companies Registry records dated July 2021 continue to list Kingsley Khumalo and Patience Khumalo as directors of Avara Investments — months after the court papers claim they were removed.
The registry records also reveal a timing anomaly.
Khumalo’s annual return, filed in July 2021, carries receipt number 90430543. Yet the documents cited to support the alleged 2020 changes show receipt number 90434375—roughly 3,000 entries later. Legal practitioners consulted by this publication confirm that Companies Registry receipt numbers are sequential, meaning these documents were likely processed in 2024, not 2020.
Loan Claim Walked Back
In an apparent attempt to explain the ownership dispute, correspondence placed before the court claimed that Mhlanga advanced funds to Khumalo to purchase the property.
Khumalo disputes that claim.
It has since emerged that Mhlanga has sought to walk back the significance of the alleged loan after it became clear that, even if such a loan existed, it would provide no lawful basis to remove company directors, appoint replacement directors, or dispossess a shareholder of property through corporate resolutions.
Letter Allegedly Authored by Dying Lawyer Disavowed
Central to the filings is a document presented as a letter from Gallop & Blank, allegedly authored by one of the firm’s senior partners to support the claim that the property was acquired on behalf of Mhlanga.
The firm has disavowed the document.
According to correspondence from the lawyer’s son — who handled the transaction — his father was gravely ill and on his deathbed at the time the letter is alleged to have been written, making it impossible for him to have authored it.
The son has stated that the document does not originate from the firm and is not part of its records.
Eviction Bid Continues
The disputed documents form the basis of an ongoing attempt to evict Khumalo from the property.
He remains in occupation and has challenged the validity of the corporate actions relied upon in the eviction proceedings.
At issue is an attempt to dispossess a former spouse of a property that remained in his possession after the division of marital assets, in which the former wife took other property — including eight vehicles and water-delivery trucks — through paperwork that, on its face, appears fraudulent through and through.
Source: Kukurigo Updates