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various professional breaches. Mr Mwonzora, who operates Mwonzora and Associates, was convicted by the Law Society Council of professional misconduct after he allegedly used a forged or irregular notice of appeal in a bid to stop eviction of his clients from a disputed property.
LSZ last week filed applications to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal based at the High Court to have Mr Mwonzora and 12 others struck off the register of legal practitioners.
Among the lawyers are Puwai Chiutsi, Tendayi Hangazha, Mlweliwenkululeko Ncube, Emmanuel Ndizeye and Tapera Sengweni.
While the LSZ application was pending at the LPDT, Mwonzora mounted his own application to have the decision by the Law Society Council reviewed.
The council found Mwonzora guilty of professional misconduct after he drove to Tafara where a High Court clerk Ms Silanti stayed on a Saturday and brought her to the High Court where she accepted and stamped the notice of appeal.
It was LSZ’s finding that such applications could not be lodged on a weekend and that the date stamp used was not the proper one.
The stamp had an inscription “The High of the High Court” instead of “The High Court of Zimbabwe”.
“Council accordingly found you guilty of professional misconduct in that you used a forged or irregular notice of appeal to stop an eviction and that you participated in the use of a falsified date stamp used to issue a court process on a day that such processes cannot be filed at the High Court.
“Council expressed serious concern over the fact that this was a serious matter with criminal elements. Due to the gravity of the offence, council resolved to approach the Legal Practitioners’’ Disciplinary Tribunal and seek your de-registration from the register of the legal practitioners,” read part of the decision.
The council held that Mwonzora got a court official from her house on a Saturday and subsequenlty gain access to a date stamp to produce a fradulent notice of appeal.
It was also noticed that appeals could not be lodged on a Saturday and that a genuine High Court stamp should have simply read “High Court of Zimbabwe” and not “High of the High Court.”
In Mwonzora’s application for review, he argued that he had a good defence in the matter and that the Law Society Council arrived at the decision without hearing his mitigation.
Mr Mwonzora denies the allegations of professional misconduct and that the registrar was simply doing her job.
He indicated that there was nothing wrong in the manner the appeal was filed and that there was no forgery or fraud.
“From my experience, the High Court can deal with urgent business on weekends. In my mind stopping an illegal eviction was urgent business. I had also noticed that the warrant called for ejectment of my clients forthwith and was suspicious of the legality of this.
“The registrar Mr Mudefi gave me the contacts of the duty registrar Ms Silanti and the duty judge.
“I contacted Ms Silanti who confirmed that she was the duty registrar and she confirmed she could come and open the court whenever required.
“She had no means to come to town and I arranged that she could be collected from Tafara to the High Court,” he said.
Mr Mwonzora said Ms Silanti had made an error in altering the date stamp but that was corrected.
“Although Ms Silanti had used Master of High Court’s stamp, I noticed that she had altered it and had authenticated the alteractions such that it read that it had been issued by the High Court.
“Because Ms Silanti had authenticated the alterations, I found that to be in order. After all, she was the registrar.
“Clearly in my mind, the notice of appeal was not forged. I deny that Ms Silanti forged the appeal at all,” said Mr Mwonzora.
Mr Mwonzora said he did not influence Ms Silanti in any way in doing her job.
One of the 12 lawyers, Mr Ncube, allegedly misapproriated some trust funds.
It is LSZ argument that Ncube, while working with Munjanja and Associates received money in trust after a property sale but failed to produce it upon demand, thereby suggesting that he had misappropriated the funds.
Ndizeye is alleged to have received sums of money from some clients but he failed to do the job he was paid for.
Hangazha is alleged to have misappropriated US$18 000 that he held in trust following the sale of a Chitungiwza house.
He allegedly raised the defence that one of his employees had forged his signature and withdrew the money from the bank account.
Hangazha also faces several other allegations including failing to do the job he had been paid for.
Chiutsi is alleged to have received US$11 000 on behalf of his client but failed to remit the money.
Online Reporter