TOP LAWYER FACES CIVIL IMPRISONMENT

A TOP Bulawayo lawyer Mr Mlweliwenkululeko Ncube faces civil imprisonment over a debt of more than $4 400 in unpaid legal costs.

The legal costs emanate from a four-year legal battle in which Mr Ncube was fighting Bulawayo businesswoman Ms Sipiwo Nkomo who sold him a BMW X5 in 2013.

Mr Ncube has since 2014 been fighting a $12 000 claim and denying that he failed to pay for the car, which cost him $23 825, claiming Ms Nkomo had brought forward a malicious claim.

In papers before the court, Mr Ncube was cited as the defendant while Ms Nkomo is the plaintiff under case numbers HC 2281/18 and HC2282/18 filed at the Bulawayo High Court.

The debt emanates from taxed costs which were recovered by Ms Nkomo from a bill of costs dated July 5, 2017 following High Court judgments delivered in her favour on January 24, 2014 and March 3, 2015.

A writ of execution signed by the assistant registrar of High Court on behalf of Chief Justice Luke Malaba was in June this year issued directing the Sheriff of the High Court to attach and take into execution the movable goods of Mr Ncube.

Mr Ncube, is obliged to either pay $4 419,70 or face civil imprisonment of up to 90 days in jail.

The court will conduct an inquiry into Mr Ncube’s financial position and depending on the circumstances, it may commit him to prison or alternatively give him further time to pay the money in instalments over a specified period.

In 2015, Ms Nkomo filed an application at the Bulawayo High Court for a rescission of a default judgment which was erroneously ruled in favour of Mr Ncube on October 12 in 2014.

The late Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Andrew Mutema rescinded the judgment and subsequently ordered Ms Nkomo to file her notice of opposition and opposing affidavit under HC548/14

According to court papers, Mr Ncube paid a deposit of $11 000 for the car but the balance of about $12 000 plus £109 was to be paid before September 30 in 2013 at an interest of five percent per annum.

Mr Ncube allegedly failed to pay the balance until October when he was charged a further  $1 200 collection fee.

The lawyer, in reply to Mr Nkomo’s claim, said at some point he offered to return the car to Ms Nkomo and her son and that she retains $3 000 of his $11 000 deposit but she refused.
Instead, the lawyer claimed, Nkomo offered to extend the payment period by six months.

Ms Nkomo’s lawyer, Mr Godfrey Nyoni of Moyo and Nyoni Legal Practitioners said Mr Ncube has been evading paying the balance including legal costs prompting the plaintiff to issue summons for civil imprisonment against the defendant.

Mr Ncube was in January 2014 ordered by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva to pay Ms Nkomo $12 175 together with five percent interest and legal costs. Chromicle

Posted in: NEWS