KEY POINTS
- Harare attorney Munyaradzi Bwanya is accused of extorting land from the former Zacc commissioner.
- The complainant, Farai Olivia Mashonganyika, alleges Bwanya tampered with court evidence.
- Bwanya denies the extortion charges, claiming he acted as a registered conveyance.
STANSLAUS Munyaradzi Bwanya, a well-known Harare attorney is accused of trying to extort 2,000 square meters of land from a former commissioner of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).
During Bwanya’s cross-examination, Farai Olivia Mashonganyika, the complainant in the case, disclosed this. Lisah Mutendereki, a magistrate in Harare, heard the case.
She was informed that Bwanya had gone to Mashonganyika’s residence at some point in February to serve her with a declaration on behalf of Arosume Property Development.
Mashonganyika, however, informed the court that Bwanya had brought court paperwork to her home to intimidate her and extract 2,000 square meters of land.
Altered recordings are presented as evidence
She claimed that Bwanya had secretly recorded her without her permission and had altered the audio before introducing it as proof in court. “He altered the recording, as evidenced by the removal of the segment in which he conversed with my gardener.
Mashonganyika added, “He also took out the part where I was reminding him that he tried his extortion games with my brother and now he is on me.”
On the recording, Mashonganyika could be heard advising Bwanya, who had paid her a visit, to contact her attorneys if he wished to serve her on behalf of the Public Works and Local Government ministries.
Bwanya defended himself by denying that he went to Mashonganyika’s home for ministry business. In addition, he refuted Mashonganyika’s accusations against him, claiming that he is a conveyancer for the Local Government and Public Works ministry and that he is only authorized to carry out such tasks as a registered conveyancer.
Mashonganyika later claimed that Bwanya supposedly filed a court action to prevent her from expanding her property after she refused.
According to a report by News Day, Bwanya is charged with fabricating documents to back up his allegations.
It was said that he faked a copy of a deed of transfer cancellation and gave it to the High Court, even though the original document didn’t reflect this cancellation.
Mashonganyika reaffirmed in her main piece of evidence that she was never informed that the cancelation letter was false by the government. Simbarashe Mukwekwezeke of Chimwamurombe Legal Practitioners, Mashonganyika’s attorney, also disclosed Bwanya’s attempt to extort his client.
“The complainant informed me that the accused individual had declared that his client would end all pointless legal actions in return for two thousand square meters of her land,” he said.
Legal dispute over land ownership and title documents
Later, in early February 2024, the complainant called to inform me that the accused had tried to serve her with court documents despite my instructions for him to serve her personally.
Mukwekwezeke went on to say that he asked Bwanya why he had gone straight to his client. He refuted that he had done so and offered the justification that he had assisted our customer personally because it was a novel situation.
In his statement, Mukwekwezeke stated, “We were then served with an urgent chamber application by the accused person, seeking to interdict the complainant from continuing building on stand number 91 Carrick Creagh Estate.”
Additionally, he informed the court that a copy of the property’s allegedly revoked title document was included with the chamber application.
Mukwekwezeke allegedly gave his clerk and staff instructions to conduct a deeds search for the disputed deed using the documents he had received from Bwanya. When they did so, they claimed found that the title deed at the Deeds Registry had neither been cancelled nor endorsed cancelled.
