daniel chigunwe
Herald Reporter
The estate of the late Samuel Koefman who died in 1931, has now been wound up and the beneficiaries are members of the Koefman family, the executor to the estate has said.
Lawyers representing the executor of the estate, Matizanadzo and Warhurst, said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) investigators have since visited their offices and no criminal conduct was detected.
“We would advise that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission visited us after you published your last article about the estate of the late S Koefman on the 31st July 2021.
“We took them through the detailed files and records of information in response to the accusations made in the article.
“Every accusation was proved to be false and after a lengthy meeting, ZACC left satisfied that the entire article was untrue,” reads the lawyers letter.
The lawyers said some tenants at Koefman’s plot in Mbare refused to sign lease agreements in protest, resulting in their eviction from the property by the estate agent Knightfrank, Zimbabwe.
“Our client’s mandated estate agent Knight Frank Zimbabwe, handed over a list of debtors to us, being the executor’s chosen legal representatives, to pursue several of the tenants at Koefman’s plot for arrears and in some cases, eviction in circumstances where there was a material breach of the lease.
“After the lease agreements, we elected to institute arbitration proceedings against the tenants, which course of action is expressly provided for in clause 35 of all the lease agreements.
“We understand that a large group of tenants at Koefman’s plot were unfortunately advised by their chosen lawyer to refuse to sign any new lease agreements and to instead remain in occupation of the premises as statutory tenants. As a result, several of the tenants do not have valid lease agreements,” reads the letter.
Recently, ZACC received a report from tenants at the complex who alleged fraud and corruption.
The late businessman died in 1933. His estate had to be wound up after some 88 years.
Mr Koefman, who was born in Poland and was a naturalised citizen of the US, operated his businesses in Zimbabwe, including tobacco processing. He owned property locally including kwaKoefman, and built the single storey complex on the land.
His property was a town planning anomaly for many years being acquired before the final boundaries of the original Salisbury township and its commonage were settled, and before legislation separated the “European” and “African” areas, but he had the deeds so he kept it.
While for 88 years, his estate had not been finalised, the tenants at his Angelbecks Plot 1 Ward Number 1 in Mbare, now popularly known as “kwaKoefman” near Matapi Police Station had been paying rent monthly.
Online Reporter