HARARE – Prominent businessman Tendai Mashamhanda has lost his last ditch bid to save his US$1,5 million upmarket home after judges in the Supreme Court ruled that he acquired the property fraudulently while it was under judicial attachment.
Mashamhanda, son of the business mogul Alex Mashamhanda of Mashwede Holdings, purchased the property for US$230,000 from lawyer Pihwai Chiutsi and claims to have significantly increased its value through renovations, making it worth more than US$1,5 million.
The High Court, however, ruled in November 2023 that the sale was fraudulent and ordered Mashamhanda to vacate the premises.
He appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stay the eviction.
But Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, one of the judges Mashamhanda believes, is corrupt and should resign, dismissed the appeal arguing that the applicant was unlawfully occupying the respondent’s property.
“The applicant has been in unlawful and mala fide occupation of the respondent’s property for close to 5 years in circumstances where the law is heavily weighed against him as demonstrated elsewhere in this judgment.
“I therefore hold that his prospects of success on appeal are pretty dim indeed. The equities and balance of convenience favour the respondent who in legal parlance should ordinarily be in possession and occupation of its property.
“The applicant’s conduct in unlawfully occupying the respondent’s property in bad faith, to his exclusion for a period spanning 5 years without its consent is manifestly unjust and unconscionable.
“Considering that the applicant has dismally failed to discharge the onus of proving that he has any reasonable excuse for clinging onto the respondent’s property without its consent, the application cannot succeed as his prospects of success on appeal are bound to fail.
“Thus dismissal of the application will meet the justice of the case without turning it on its head.
“In the final analysis, I hold that the applicant has failed to meet the requirements of the test for stay of execution set out in the Cohen case and other related precedent supra,” the judge said.
Mashamhanda wrote several letters demanding the resignation of Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza and Supreme Court judges Antonia Guvava and Chinembiri Bhunu, citing corruption allegations and violations of the Judicial Service (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2012.
The case has garnered attention due to the substantial value of the property and the ongoing legal battle.
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