The Sheriff of the High Court yesterday towed away a Range Rover Sport vehicle belonging to politician Didymus Mutasa and an assortment of other movable property for auctioning to recover a $26 900 debt
Mutasa, the former Zanu-pf secretary for Administration, owes Nyakutombwa Mugabe Legal Counsel $26 900 in outstanding legal fees.
The fees accrued when the politician engaged the lawyers to fight his legal battles against Zanu-pf in 2015.
A bid by Mutasa to stop the removal of the property from his Umwinsdale house through an urgent interdict proved academic because the Sheriff had already taken the movables.
Mutasa, through his new lawyers, Mwonzora and Associates, filed an urgent chamber application for stay of execution, together with another court application for rescission of judgment at the High Court.
He argued that he was never served with the order compelling him to pay the debt and that the billing by the lawyers was unreasonable.
It is Mutasa’s argument that the bill in question was never taxed, neither was it calculated in terms of the Law Society General Tariff of 2011.
The applications are still pending, but the property was moved to LM Auctions yard in Southerton.
Household goods under attachment included: Three sets of leather sofas, dining table and eight chairs, two fridges, a coffee table and stools, two water tanks, microwave, carpets, television stands, Kipor generator, DStv decoder, DVD player and two flower pots.
Last year, the High Court ordered Mutasa to pay Nyakutombwa Mugabe Legal Counsel outstanding legal fees to the tune of $26 900.
Efforts to make him pay the debt hit a brickwall and the lawyers this month instructed the Sheriff to attach the property.
Mutasa, together with Rugare Gumbo and Temba Mliswa, were in 2015 expelled from zanu-pf for allegedly trying to topple President Mugabe.
Mutasa and Gumbo are now with a new political outfit Zimbabwe People First, while Mliswa is now legislator for Norton on an independent candidate ticket.
The trio engaged the services of Nyakutombwa Mugabe Legal Counsel to fight the expulsion.
They also sought to nullify the amendment made to the revolutionary party’s constitution at the 2014 people’s congress.
After filing several applications, the trio later chickened out and dropped the challenge.
Gumbo and Mliswa are contesting the claim and their matter is yet to be heard at the High Court.
In coming up with the bill, the law firm charged the trio for all opted services rendered and for all court attendances in terms of the Law Society of Zimbabwe General Tariff of 2011