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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
The High Court has ordered the immediate reopening of a deceased estate, 12 years after its closure, following a discovery that the assets had been fraudulently distributed to the exclusion of other beneficiaries.

First wife to the late Wilson Muchinyani Mudawini, Mrs Flashia Mudawini and her seven children were scratched from the estate after the second wife, who is also now late, clandestinely registered the estate with her own children through misrepresentation.

The fraud, according the court, was perpetrated by the late Ms Ema Mudawini and her son Keith, who misrepresented that she was the only surviving spouse.

The two also hoodwinked the Master of High Court that Keith was the eldest son and heir when he was in fact third in the line of the late Wilson’s sons.

Through such misrepresentation, Keith was appointed heir and inherited a plot in Bulawayo and other properties.

Without the first wife and her children’s knowledge, Keith later transferred ownership of the property to his mother.

The first wife and her children were in the dark when the second wife and her son were perpetrating the fraud. The family at large had in 1994 agreed to leave the Bulawayo plot in the name of the late Wilson, for use by all the 13 children born out of the two marriages. The fraud came to light in 2015 after the death of Keith’s mother.

Other family members visited the office of the Master of High Court to register the estate and upon inquiry, they discovered that it had since been concluded and that the file was now at the archives.

The file was later retrieved from the archives and the other beneficiaries left out in the fraudulent distribution plan, successfully applied for re-opening of the estate.

High Court judge Justice Alfas Chitakunye picked up the fraud and reversed all the transactions made pursuant to the fraudulent distribution of assets.

“Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that:

1. The letters of administration issued by the Master of High Court on June 21 2005 appointing Ema Mudawini as Executrix Dative in the estate of the late Wilson Muchiyani Mudawini be and is hereby set aside.

2. The consent to transfer, being ED16 issued by second respondent (Master of High Court) on August 22, 2006 be and is hereby cancelled.

3. The third respondent (Registrar of Deeds) be and is hereby directed to reverse the transfer done by the late Ema Mudawini back into the names of the late Wilson Muchiyani Mudawini under DRB1511 /95 in respect of a certain piece of land being Subdivision H of Lot11 of Montgomery situate in the District of Bulawayo previously held under Deed of Transfer Number 3427 /86 dated 7 November 1986.”

The judge ordered the Master of High Court to reconvene an edict meeting to appoint an independent executor.

Justice Chitakunye described the fraud as deliberate. “It is thus beyond doubt that at the demise of Wilson, Clemence Muchiyani was the eldest son and so, the probable heir. In terms of the succession law, then obtaining, he would have been entitled to inherit the estate of the late Wilson in his personal capacity. “It would appear the late Ema and Keith, being mindful of this, decided to falsify information.

“It is clear from the above that the late Ema and Keith knowingly and deliberately misrepresented to the assistant Master in order that they inherit the immovable property in question,” ruled Justice Chitakunye.