SOUTH-AFRICAN-BASED Zimbabwean businessman Gerald Tapfuma
spent the weekend in police cells after his former girlfriend, Mercy Chapeta,
made a false report to South African police, linking him to smuggling
cigarettes and fuel into the country.
Tapfuma was released on Monday without charge after police
realised that they had been led down the garden path by the bitter former
girlfriend, who is demanding US$150 000 from the businessman.
Tapfuma’s lawyers Swanepoel Albasini Attorneys confirmed
the arrest, saying he was now seeking to sue Chapeta for defamation, after she
threatened to cause further reputational harm to him.
“We have instructions that you are trying to extort our
client since your affair with him ended. When he refused to pay, you then made
false reports pertaining to money laundering and smuggling. You have threatened
to contact his suppliers and publish false statements about his affairs to
bring disrepute to him and cause him to lose his contracts.
“Our client is not going to pay that money; our client is
not going to divorce his wife and marry you. If you continue with these illegal
actions, we are going to approach the courts and interdict you,” the letter
sent to Chapeta read.
Chapeta, who wrote a letter of demand on November 18, 2018
through her Harare-based lawyers Pundu and Company, seeking compensation for
breach of promise to marry following the fallout, threatened to bring hell to
the doorstep of her former lover and his wife.
“Our client suffered immense humiliation by your activities
and treatment to her. She has lost her self-worth as a woman and is now viewed
upon in low esteem by her family,” Chapeta’s lawyers wrote last November.
The lawyers said Chapeta wanted $150 000 or she would expose Tapfuma’s alleged involvement
with the criminal underworld.
“We are advised that you are part of an organised crime
syndicate. Your company GT Equipment facilitates the laundering of money
through trafficking of prohibited substances. Furthermore, we have established
that you have established a state of capture to secure contracts with named
multinational companies,” the letter of demand read.
Tapfuma, through his lawyer Valentine Mutatu, refused to
pay, describing Chapeta as an extortionist.
His lawyers said Tapfuma was a legitimate businessman who
was open to have his businesses audited for compliance under Zimbabwean and
South African laws. Newsday
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