Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
BULAWAYO Ward One councillor, Josiah Mutangi who is facing civil imprisonment has been labelled belligerent, arrogant and a lawless citizen after allegedly defying a court order to vacate his lodgings at Imbesu Farm, 25 kilometres outside Bulawayo within the Umguza Rural District Council, on three separate occasions.
Councillor Mutangi, whose ward covers Bulawayo’s Central Business District, has been illegally staying at the farmhouse with his family without paying rentals since July 2022.
The owner of the property, Zephaniah Matiwaza, represented by Samp Mlaudzi and Partners, noted in his application for civil contempt of court and committal to prison for 90 days of Mutangi that on 8 November 2022, he was granted an order seeking cancellation of the agreement of lease, outstanding rentals, hold over charges, eviction and costs of suit by the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court under case no CG554/22.
“To pursue my claim and execute my order I duly instructed the Second Respondent (messenger of court) to serve the order and carry out the execution and proceed with the eviction and recovery of monies due to me. The first respondent (Mutangi) was directly and indirectly served through his wife with the Notice of Eviction on 20 February 2023 and the eviction was carried out on 23 February 2023.
“Without any valid legal basis, excuse or court order, the first respondent and his wife and children unlawfully went back into the farmhouse and denied me access to my premises in direct violation and contempt of the Court Order,” reads part of the application.
Clr Mutangi is alleged to have repeated the same modus operandi on two different occasions, where after being evicted by the messenger of court he would forcibly return to the said farmhouse.
“For the third time, I sought to enforce my rights and court order granted by this court and I instructed the Second Respondent to evict the first respondent, which was carried out on 4 October 2024.
“For the third time, the first respondent together with his wife and children threatened violence and regained entry into the house and as the time of filing this application they are staying there illegally without paying of rent and in defiance of the Court order and in contempt of this Honourable court,” reads the application.
Matiwaza further argued that as an elected public official, Clr Mutangi is contemptuous of the court and keen on not respecting any of the court orders issued.
“I have consulted my legal practitioners who initially proposed that we pursue criminal contempt, but that has not been helpful as Queens Park Police Station has consistently failed, refused, or neglected to seriously deal with the issue maybe because of the First Respondent’s profile as a public official and Ward One councillor.
“Upon further consultation, I have been forced to take the matter into my own hands and apply for civil contempt of court in terms of the draft for committal to prison for 90 days until the contempt is purged and the first respondent with the help of the Zimbabwe Republic Police must simply apprehend the first respondent and commit him to prison,” reads the application.
“The first respondent is a belligerent, arrogant, incorrigible, lawless citizen whose home and destiny is Bulawayo Central Prison or Khami Prison for 90 days and is a disgrace as a Public Official posing as Ward One councillor when he does not even reside in the Bulawayo CBD but he resides at my farm where he consistently threatens me and my family,” the application further reads.
The application is set to be heard on Wednesday at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court.
mbulelo smpofu
