Johannesburg – Controversial businessman and former ANC leader Mutumwa Mawere appears to have fallen on hard times.
Mawere, who was expelled from the ANC for allegedly defrauding the National Lotteries Commission of R5-million using the party’s letterhead, is set to lose his luxury Joburg apartment aft ]er failing to service his bond.
Mawere’s plight came to the fore after Absa, which is cited as a second plaintiff, applied for a default judgment and execution order in the Joburg High Court on Monday to attach and auction off his property to the highest bidder.
According to court papers, Mawere obtained a R2-million loan from Absa to purchase a townhouse in Rivonia, Sandton, on October 28 2019.
He was also given a R400 000 loan as covering security for his bond. Absa Home Loans Guarantee Company, which is cited as the first plaintiff in the case, acted as surety for Mawere.
In terms of the loan agreement, Mawere was required to pay over R21 000 a month in a period of 192 months. But Mawere, who was the chairperson of the ANC’s Rivonia Heroes branch and was expelled because of the lott ery scandal, defaulted on his monthly instalment for seven-and-a-half months and, as a result of his tardiness, he was over R133 000 in arrears by February 8.
According to the papers, the bank’s lawyers wrote to Mawere on February 8 and March 12 this year and pleaded with him to sett le the arrears. Notwithstanding the demand, read the papers, Mawere failed or refused to pay the arrears and to keep his account up to date.
This left the bank with no choice but to approach the court to seek an order to att ach and execute the property. “To the knowledge of the first plaintiff , the defendant generates an income, but given his inability to pay the monthly instalments in terms of the loan agreement, it is clear the defendant will not be in a position to satisfy the judgment debt.
“The amount owed is substantial and the property is the only tangible security held for the payment thereof, and consequently the first plaintiff will be prejudiced if it cannot recover a portion of the amount due by executing against the property,” read the papers.
Mawere, who has dual citizenship, has been living in South Africa since fleeing Zimbabwe after the then-Robert Mugabe government instituted a corruption probe against him and his business partners.
His mining assets have been frozen by the Zimbabwean government, which took over his mining firm African Resources Limited.
Mawere said he was in arrears because he struggled to find tenants to occupy the property.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the economy and it became difficult for me to get tenants to occupy the property because I have used [it] as an office space. But we have filed papers in court to defend the matt er. The matt er is with the lawyers,” he said.
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