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THE daughter of the late property tycoon Edward Nyanyiwa Snr, commonly as Eddies Pfugari, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court Friday charged with fraud and forgery after she presented a fake marriage certificate of her parents to the Master of the High Court in a bid to gain access to her late father estate.
Naume Makumbe (54) is one of the late property mogul’s five children who are embroiled in a vicious wrangle over their father’s US$30 million estate.
Pfugari, one of the pioneers of Zimbabwe’s black economic empowerment crusade, died on February 10 2019 at his Milton Park home in Harare, leaving behind a massive business empire under the flagship, E Pfugari Properties (Private Limited) and a number of assets.
As part of her bail conditions, Makumbe is was ordered to reside at her given address, report once a week on Fridays at the nearest police station and not to interfere with witnesses.
The complainant in the matter is Edward Nyanyiwa (jnr), the late tycoon’s eldest son born to a South African woman.
Makumbe was born to Pfugari’s third wife Mildred Nhliziyo. They had however long divorced when she died in 2005.
The separation left Pfugari and his five children with Mildred estranged.
Court papers show that sometime in March 1980, the late Edward Nyanyiwa registered Eddie Pfugari Pvt Limited with the accused’s mother and they were both directors.
Mildred Nyanyiwa later on resigned from the directorship on July 30, 1989.
Following the passing on of Mildred Nyanyiwa, the accused registered her estate in 2015 under DR 2895/15 and the late Edward Nyanyiwa was still alive by then.
The late Edward Nyanyiwa (Snr) was summoned to an edict meeting to choose the executor for the late Mildred Nyanyiwa’s estate and he contested the issue citing that the deceased had neither properties nor anything that qualified to be registered as such Edward Nyanyiwa (Snr) later on passed away on the 10th of February 2019 and after his death, an executor was appointed by Master of High Court under DR 471/19.
During the period extending from April 2019 to October 2019, the accused tendered fake copies of a marriage certificate between Mildred and Edward Nyanyiwa to one Mujara the legal practitioner with Nyika Kanengoni and Partners legal Practitioners for administration of the late Edward Nyanyiwa’s estate.
It is alleged when the accused tendered the documents, she knew very well that they were fake. As a result, the legal practitioner tendered the documents to the Master of High Court for administration of Estate.
The complainant later discovered the offence and reported the matter to the Police.
The investigations carried out at the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) Church in Kezi, Matabeleland South province, where the marriage certificate was purported to have been issued and the records established that the certificate was fake.
Four samples of the signatures of one WK Dube office, who was purported to have been the marriage officer, were recovered and referred to Questioned Document Examiner for examination and it was concluded that the documents were not similar and therefore not consistent with the standard signature of WK Dube the marriage officer and stated that the questioned signatures are consistent with forgery.
The marriage certificate was taken to the Registrar of Marriages for verification and no record was found in their system.
Several efforts were made in trying to locate the accused but she became evasive and on February 9 this year at about 1730 hours, detectives from CID Commercial Crimes Division Northern Region reacted to a tip off leading to the arrest of the accused at number 38 Sandringham Drive Alexandra Park Harare. NewZimbabwe.com
