Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Peter Matika, [email protected]
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has attached a 30-tonne trailer belonging to local businesswoman Ms Aquiline Pamberi over an outstanding debt exceeding US$1 000 on unpaid rates for a house she co-owns with her late husband in the leafy Matsheumhlope suburb.
Documents seen by the Chronicle reveal that the trailer, bearing registration ABB 1860, was seized by the Messenger of Court in December.
Originally scheduled for auction on January 17, the sale failed to secure a buyer. The trailer is now slated for auction at the next sale, expected to take place within the next two weeks.
This is not the first time Ms Pamberi has faced asset attachments by BCC. In 2017, two of her luxury vehicles — a Mercedes Benz and a Nissan Hardbody — were attached and sold by the Sheriff of the High Court over a US$5 000 debt. That incident, which sparked investigations into her conduct, led to the discovery of alleged fraudulent activities and ultimately resulted in her arrest.
Although she was convicted of fraud at the time, she was later discharged. Court records show that in January 2018, Ms Irene Chinyanda met Ms Pamberi in the city centre. According to the records, Chinyanda sought to raise US$575 to pay the Deputy Sheriff for a writ of execution in a case that had been ruled in her favour at the High Court.
In 2019, Pamberi, through her lawyers at Moyo and Nyoni Legal Practitioners, filed a notice of appeal at the magistrates’ court in Bulawayo. In her appeal, she contended that the magistrate erred in finding her guilty of fraud and imposing a fine of US$500. Part of the appeal notice stated: “In default of payment, three months’ imprisonment with a further six months imprisonment suspended on condition, she does not within a period of five years commit an offence involving dishonesty, appeals against conviction only.”
After defaulting on the payment of the fine, a warrant for her arrest was issued but later cancelled once the fine was paid.
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