OWNERSHIP of “kwa Koefman” or “Koefman’s Corner” in the narrow gap between the old town of Harare and old Mbare hangs in the balance, some 88 years after the death of the original owner and developer Mr Samuel Koefman, with the title deeds still in the name of his deceased estate.
Now there are efforts being made, by the look of it, to
grab the property, whose value has rocketed in the more than a century since it
was allocated for planting vegetables next to the Mukuvisi.
The property is still registered under the estate of the
Late Samuel Koefman, who died in January 1933. Normally a property moves into
the ownership of the heirs, either those in the will or to family members if
there is no will, within a few months and almost always within a year.
To be still floating in legal space 88 years later must
make this the oldest estate in the books that has still not been finalised.
Mr Koefman, who was born in Poland and was a naturalised
citizen of the US, operated his businesses in Zimbabwe, including tobacco
processing. He owned property locally including kwaKoefman, and built the
single storey complex on the land.
His property was a town planning anomaly for many years
being acquired before the final boundaries of the original Salisbury township
and its commonage were settled, and before legislation separated the “European”
and “African” areas, but he had the deeds so he kept it.
While for 88 years, his estate had not been finalised, the
tenants at his Angelbecks Plot 1 Ward Number 1 in Mbare, now popularly known as
“kwaKoefman” near Matapi Police Station had been paying rentals totalling close
to US$20 000 monthly.
Mr Koefman’s children are long dead as well and the estate
was left hanging until 2015 when it was resuscitated using a non-existent file
number DR41/73.
The property, which is about 3ha, and has commercial
structures being leased out to almost 100 tenants paying an average monthly
rent of US$200 each.
However, it is not clear who was benefiting from the
collected funds over the years considering that all the businessman’s known
relatives had died.
It also remains unclear whether the taxman was getting a
share from the property business because receipts were being issued in the
names of at least nine different companies, five of which were unregistered.
Without seeing the said 1973 deceased estate file (DR41/73)
officers at the Master of High Court opened a dummy record with a new file
number “DR600/15” on the understanding that the 1973 file was now at the
National Archives.
A check with the National Archives revealed that the cited
DR 41/73 had nothing to do with Mr Samuel Koeffman.
The High Court granted an order for the appointment of Mr
Edward Mark Warhaust as the executor of the estate on the basis of incorrect
citation of the 1973 file.
The officer who opened the replacement file at the Master
of High Court’s office did so without having sight of the said 1973 file
(DR41/73) relied upon in resuscitating the estate case.
The file DR 41/73 is there at the National Archives but it
has nothing to do with Mr Koefmann’s estate. That file number was duly issued in respect of the late Aenes May Sewell who
died on June 27 in 1972.
On the basis of the non-existent 1973 file, officers at the
Master of the High Court’s office used photocopies to conclude the estate.
Secretary for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Mr
Walter Chikwana said the officers were not supposed to open a new file in the
case.
“They are not supposed to open a new file when the original
one is there. A live file, no matter how old it is, must not be archived.
“You do not archive an incomplete matter or a live record.
Archiving means destroying the matter after completion,” he said. Mr Chikwana said if the file is at the
National Archives, JSC dispatches vehicles to go and collect it whenever its
needed.
“Whenever a file at the archives becomes relevant, we have
cars ready to pick it up,” he said.
According to the newly opened file, the beneficiaries,
whose existence and relation to the late Mr Koefman is not apparently clear,
reportedly agreed to have the properties transferred into a company called
AngelB Properties Private Limited.
A check with the Registrar of Companies revealed that the
company was registered in 2016 but its file was empty and cannot even show who
the directors are.
For almost four months, the Chief Registrar of Companies Ms
Nyagura repeatedly told the Herald that the information was missing and she
could not tell who the company owners were.
The Registrar of Companies
could not even tell where the company operates from. Ms Nyagura at one point requested for time to
search the documents until she gave up.
“We have tried looking for the information without success.
Our system shows the company was registered in 2016 but we do not have any
papers related to the company. I do not know what happened,” she said.
Information gathered by The Herald shows that prior to the
2015 manoeuvres over the estate, tenants at Koefman area were issued with
different receipts showing the following different companies: Mercrust
Investments Private Limited, Mexapower Investments Private Limited, Inhurst
Private Limited, Zimtrail Investments Private Limited, Harville Investments
Private Limited, Vascro Investments Private Limited, Hacksaw Investments
Private Limited, Mupani Trust and Erlibank Investments Private Limited.
On behalf of the Chief Registrar of Companies, Mr M
Chakanyuka wrote to The Herald saying only four of the above companies were
registered.
The four companies registered on the same date in 2014 are:
Inhurst Investments, Zimtrail Investments, Harville Investments and Hacksaw
Investments.
Three names of people — Luke Edward Matthew Ngwerume,
Francis Chivhenge and Harvey Armstrong Leared — appear on each of the four
companies’ CR14 documents as directors.
Tenants at the Mbare property at one time complained to the
estate agent, managing the properties that receipts were being issued in the
names of many different companies.
Mr Koefman owned a number of other properties which have
been transferred into other names. He once owned Stand 2382 Salisbury Township
but it was transferred to his now late son Benjamin Koefman in 1947.
The same property, according to records at the Deeds
Office, was taken over by the administrators of his estate. Stand Number 2382
Salisbury, which was once owned by Samuel Koefmann, is now a property of AIK
Investments Private Limited through a deed transfer dated June 28 1954.
Stand Number 600 Salisbury, previously owned by Samuel
Keofman is now being managed by the Management Committee of the Local
Authorities Pension Fund through a 1989 deed transfer.
But at the Deeds Office, kwa Koefman remains the property
of man dead for 88 years. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment