CapeValley Properties legal officer in court for breaching Estates Agent Act
Prosper Dembedza Court Correspondent
A legal officer at CapeValley Properties (Private) Limited has appeared in court on charges of practicing as an estate agent without registration.
Tafadzwa Ngoro (35) was facing charges of contravening the Estates Agents Act when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Mrs Ruth Moyo.
The matter was remanded to October 24.
The complainant in the matter is Stanford Madzora (49) who is employed by the Estate Agents Council as a compliance officer.
It is the State’s case that sometime in 1998, Isaac Chiduku and Amos Chiduku who are joint title owners of a property called Lot 34 Swallowfield, Johannesburg in Norton which they inherited from their late father’s estate subdivided the farm into agro-plots and residential stands and shared the stands among the five siblings.
Isaac and Amos contracted a company called Drowack Private Limited to finance and develop the property into fully serviced stands.
In 2020, the director of Drowack, Gideon Muzvongi introduced Primrose Chakuchichi to Isaac and Amos and advised them that her company CapeValley Properties (Private) Limited was going to manage the development of Swallowfield Farm.
The court heard that in May 2021, CapeValley Properties (Private) Limited offered the service of marketing and selling of Swallowfield Farm on behalf of the Chiduku siblings.
Isaac and the other four siblings were made to believe that CapeValley Properties (Private) Limited was a registered real estate agent which made them to agree that it would sell the residential stands on their behalf.
Ngoro allegedly started selling the stands at Swallowfield Farm to clients while collecting fees for building plans from clients, conveyancing fees, commission /agents fees from landowners and administration fees.
The business relationship between the Chiduku family and the accused became sour in September 2022 and this resulted in the engagement of the Estate Council of Zimbabwe to check the registration status of CapeValley Properties (Pvt) Limited.
The Estate Council of Zimbabwe discovered that CapeValley Properties (Private) Limited is not registered in terms of the Act and this prompted them to file a police report.
Investigations were carried out and it was established that the accused was not registered with the Estate Agents Council at the time it was engaged by the Chiduku family to sell their stands.
Ngoro was not allowed to operate as a real estate entity in selling or managing any immovable property on behalf of third parties without any express authority from the Estate Agents Council.