FIVE beneficiaries of the estate of the late national hero,
Vitalis Musungwa Gava Zvinavashe’s Trust have petitioned the High Court seeking
an order to remove the current Trustees accusing them of failing to distribute
dividends to the recipients and also failing to provide accounting details of
how the Trust has been administered since January 2017.
The beneficiaries, Thompson, Tapera, Maxwell, Augustine and
Desmond Zvinavashe are seeking the removal of Margaret Mutamba and Richard
Musungwa Zvinavashe, Shingai Mutumba and Clemency Ruzengwe from administering
the Zvinavashe Trust.
In his founding affidavit, Thompson said in the event that
the order sought is granted by the court, he together with his co-beneficiaries
of the Trust should be ordered to appoint an interim board of trustees
comprising of two professional trustees and three other trustees from the
members of the family.
“The application and order sought is based on the
following; non-payment of dividends to the beneficiaries in contravention of
clause 16 of the Trust Deed. Current beneficiaries have the right to distributions as
set forth in the trust document. It is respectively averred that since January
2017, applicants were not favoured with their share of Trust dividends,” he said.
“That failure, in my view, directly offends the spirit of
the Trust Deed particularly clause 6,3 of the Trust Deed which is sacrosanct.
Respondents are not giving information to the beneficiaries pertaining to all
Trust property held in the Trust Deed as communicated in clause 5 of the Trust
Deed.”
Thompson also said, alternatively, if their order is not granted
in terms of how they have suggested, the court should appoint an interim board
of trustees it deems fit and proper in terms of clause 4 of the Trust
Deed.
Thompson further said the court should also order Mutumba
and Ruzengwe to deliver all professional reports of the Trust and all records
pertaining to their duties as trustees and all documents in their possession or
control to the interim board appointed by the five beneficiaries, who are
applicants in the matter, or by the court.
“Respondents are not keeping proper set of accounts in
respect of their transaction and no auditing has been done with regards to the
financial dealings of the Trust. That conduct is contrary to clause 9 of the Trust
Deed,” he said.
“Furthermore, respondents are not making information
available to the applicants pertaining to the Trust. Applicants, being
beneficiaries are entitled to accounting records. An accounting is a detailed report of
all income, expenses and distributions from the Trust. Respondents are required
to provide an accounting annually, and this has not been done and if it
were done, the applicants were never made aware of the same.”
Just last month, High Court judge Justice Sylvia
Chirawu-Mugomba lamented the absence of an alternative dispute resolution in
the same estate where Margaret
and Richard have been at each other’s throat ever since
Zvinavashe was interred at the National Heroes Acre.
Justice Chirawu-Mugomba presided over an application in
which Margaret approached the court seeking a court order to bar Richard from
entering stand number 730
Cowie Road, Tynwald in Harare because he has been
disturbing her peace.
According to court papers, Margaret and Richard have been
embroiled in bitter fights over Zvinavashe’s estate and at some point the said
fights landed Richard
in the dock after he allegedly chased Margaret out of the
premises despite her having been granted lifetime usufruct over the Tynwald
property by the late army
general.
The current application is pending. Newsday
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