The day everything went up in smoke: Mazibisa

A COUPLE of years ago, youthful Mr Sindiso Mazibisa was one of the country’s top lawyers, running a firm with over 20 lawyers — both junior and senior.

At the peak of his career, he even handled one of the most publicised treason trials in the country, as an instructing lawyer.

And perhaps realising how popular he had become he even tried his luck in politics. He was a media proprietor of sorts after establishing a number of regional publications. In short he was on the fast lane of success, with some even predicting that he could easily become one of the country’s youngest judges.

However, a day in January 2015 is one Mr Mazibisa would hardly forget as this was the day his life and career came crumbling on his feet. This was the day when he made it into the newspaper headlines for all the wrong reasons, Cheda law firm shut down over $350k fraud — was the headline that became the talk of town.

Months after a number of articles, detailing the alleged corruption surrounding Mr Mazibisa and his Cheda and Partners law firm, he was eventually barred from practicing law in Zimbabwe after a tribunal ruled that he be de-registered. The firm that was established in 1992 by founding partner and former senior Bulawayo High Court Judge, Justice Maphios Cheda, collapsed following allegations of misuse of the company’s trust fund.

In the case which led to the de-registration of the lawyer and demise of the once popular law firm, the firm failed to account for $335 000 which South Africa-based businessman Mr Titus Ncube deposited with the law firm in March 2013. Mr Ncube intended to buy shares in a gold mine with Mazibisa as broker, but he later developed cold feet and asked that the money be released back to him but the law firm failed to reimburse him.

Sunday News Reporter Vusumuzi Dube (VD) last week interviewed Mr Mazibisa (SM) at his new business venture on a number of issues ranging from his de-registration, the collapse of Cheda and Partners and what the future entails for him after his de-registration.

VD: You have been in the media for all the wrong reasons for a considerable period now, can you tell us about this, the demise of Cheda and Partners and how all this has affected you?

SM: My personal approach is that it is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional issue. Firstly I have always believed that; to him much is given, a lot is expected. To some degree I believe the attack may be justified in that my perceived professional standing fell below the expected standard. Concerning the two transactions that were penned out in the newspapers I think from a professional stand point and morally I could have done much to mitigate those issues because those were just personal issues that boomeranged because they were done through a professional entity, this being Cheda and Partners.

The second dimension is that whenever there is a key people will obviously go for the jugular. The moment those two transactions happened and the other transaction that related to Mr Mlamuli Ncube concerning some properties came into the fore, in my view I think the competition came in. You will notice that the way that the legal fraternity is regulated is basically that its fellow lawyers do the regulation — this being the competition. So I believe all that happened played into the hands of competition.

The third dimension is that the moment I joined politics, I became easy prey for people to find fault because how do you justify the making of noise of just two to three transactions that related to me or Cheda and Partners when the law firm handled over 7 000 cases successfully. The hullaballoo of the couple of transactions is incomparable to the millions of dollars that we were handling as an enterprise. For corporates I will tell you that we were handling transactions for over 13 banks, many statutory bodies including NSSA and a lot of other entities and transactions were going through but nothing was mentioned about that.

In my view they were socio-economic considerations from people who really wanted to see the firm going down, specifically fellow lawyers who went for the jugular when they saw the opportunity to do so. Also I think a lot of things were expected from me and my conduct was deemed to fall beyond expected standards.

VD: In terms of your person how did this entire scandal affect you?

SM: To be truthful this was one of the most devastating things that happened in my life. For 15 years of my life after finishing college, all that I knew and that I had ever known was Cheda and Partners. All that I knew was practising law, all that I knew was going to court, all that I knew was defending people’s rights. My approach to practice was basically the support to the underdog.

Honestly the firm that I had ever known, in fact the employer that I know is Cheda and Partners. So this had a direct effect on me because now I was waking up and there was no court to attend, no clients to attend to, it therefore took a toll not only on me personally but also psychologically. It also took a heavy toll on me financially because that was my only other source of income outside my mining activities.

VD: Still on your legal practice, I know you handled a lot of cases, which were the major highlights of your career?

SM: There are several cases which come to mind but one case in point is the treason trial, where I was basically one of the instructing lawyers. I came face to face with a treason murder arising from the distribution of fliers. That matter really exposed me to criminal practice as far as constitutional matters are concerned, it really brought a lot of issues and took a number of interesting turns.

The second matter which comes to mind is one involving the Apolostic Faith Mission (AFM) church which is otherwise known as Sengwayo, after its founder. The church was founded in the 1950s and by then the Rhodesian government was not allowing blacks to establish independent churches, they had to be appendages of foreign churches so they became an appendage of an American church; the United States-based AFM of Portland Oregon. In 2004 the Americans then came to the country suddenly and now wanted to remove the overseer of the church, Reverend Richard Sibanda. It was a difficult case but my approach was to block the deposition of the overseer. For over nine years that matter was in and out of court, with the opposing side changing lawyers continuously but I remained the overseer’s legal representative.

The third matter which comes to mind is when I got a court interdict that barred the then Education Minister David Coltart from preventing pupils who had failed to register for exams in time to write their examinations. There are honestly a lot of cases but those three come to mind right now.

VD: When the tribunal finally announced your de-registration, you did not challenge the decision, it is clear you expected such a verdict to come through, how was the waiting, how did it feel when you were finally told you could not practice law in the country ever again?

SM: The wait was really devastating; I can compare that to a person who is on death row, where you know that one day you are going for execution. So you might realise that the wait was painful but I knew it was coming. However, when it finally came you cannot imagine the relief that I had, in fact the relief I felt was so satisfying that I think it was worth the wait, a wait which was painful not only for me but my immediate family and my entire family.

VD: But since it is now in the open that you are no longer allowed to operate as a lawyer, do people still come to you seeking some form of legal advice?

SM: Obviously I am now guided by the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act which says now that I am de-registered I cannot institute legal proceedings but what I am doing, which is within my right is being a business consultant and a legal advisor.

Business consultant in the sense that I have done a lot of business courses, I have structured a number of business deals and as long as I operate within the parameters of the Legal Practitioners Act that I don’t draft court matters, take matters to court I am therefore still within my rights. Basically I am an unregistered legal practitioner but I am also a legal practitioner by training so that can never be taken away from me by anyone.

VD: I know, in the previous elections we saw another side of you when you entered into active politics under the MDC banner contesting for the Magwegwe constituency but on a losing note, now that in 2018 we will be having elections, are we going to see you entering politics?

SM: Politics is a dog eat dog terrain. In the first place I don’t think my entering into politics was well considered, it was more academic and theoretical, now with the benefit of hindsight I should have taken more time to go into politics because it comes with socio-economic ramifications for my family and even my businesses.

My businesses honestly suffered when I entered politics. I am confident that had I not entered politics Cheda and Partners would still be in existence. So with the benefit of hindsight and information that I know now I remain politically active but as far as the ballot paper is concerned count me out as I won’t be entering in the foreseeable future, there are certainly better priorities than contesting.

VD: I know at one point you entered the media industry as a publisher of a regional newspaper the now defunct The Southern Star, could we see you taking this avenue once more?

SM: I have always had an interest in the media industry; remember I illustriously served in the Zimpapers board for eight years, which was a record in itself, if you check the history of the board. Our board was led by Mr Hebert Nkala with the likes of the late Dr Lawton Hikwa among others, we served for the longest time. So I have a lot of experience working in the media industry and the passion has always been there.

To me I have a regional interest in the media, as it feeds into the developmental agenda that I harbour so much. To me the media must play a pivotal role especially in terms of development. So yes God willing you are going to see more of me but not anytime soon. The only challenge now is that the media is basically capital intensive.

Also my relationship with the late journalist, Busani Ncube led me to the passion I now have in journalism. Busani was my brother, advisor, confidant and many other things. I remember he was so in love with journalism that at one point he once had three publications all headlining with his stories, they were meant to be four but the fourth for some reason did not byline him and Busani being Busani was not pleased. One day I wish I will come up with an award especially dedicated to Busani.

VD: As we wind up Mr Mazibisa, tell us about your family, how many kids do you have?

SM: Before I respond to that question, I think you have realised that even on my social media posts I have tried by all means to keep my family away from the spotlight, I have reasons for doing this. I must, however, emphasise that I have a lovely family, a lovely wife and daughters, that I can confirm. They are very supportive, my eldest daughter is doing Form Three at a local private school, she is amazing and very intelligent to say the least.

Why I have avoided giving them the limelight is because I think it is very unfair – maybe coming from a lawyer’s background – to expose our families and our children to the public. You can imagine if my wife and children were public knowledge when all this was penning out, how they would have felt. So I have discouraged them from having any direct media or social media impact because when my daughters grow up I want them to be free to make independent choices and decisions; whether they want to be public figures like their father or they want to live their lives but for now I am happy that my family has decided to keep away from the public eye.

Those who also privately know my family have also been very supportive including from schools where my children go they have been supportive, fellow students have even not mocked my children, in fact my eldest daughter, who I mentioned is in Form Three, has seen her performance vastly improve because I taught her at an early stage that you can see Sindiso Mazibisa but you cannot inherit Sindiso Mazibisa, you must instead build your own name and life.

VD: Lastly what does the future have for Sindiso Mazibisa the unregistered lawyer?

SM: I must point out that when all this Cheda and Partners issue was penning out, either to flight or fight. If I could flight I could have left the jurisdiction of the country and they were many opportunities but I couldn’t run away from the cases that were pending and for the record I have assigned my business advices and a team of lawyers to deal with any residual issues that the Law Society of Zimbabwe still has. I chose that I had to fight this battle and I cooperated as much as possible to see all issues pen out, to see all the criminal issues that were being raised also pen out.

Concerning the future I also had two issues, to go underground and start some private businesses and pretend I am not Sindiso Mazibisa but what the newspapers have done and who I have always been is being a public figure, a service provision person. In 2004 I formed the Royal Legal Aid Trust, which basically is in the same manner as Clientel Legal and Scorpion Legal Aid. The greatest challenge which I noticed in practice is that we have litigants who can’t access justice because they cannot afford the money needed by lawyers.

So this to me has been a golden opportunity to revive the Royal Legal Aid Trust where people will be contributing on a monthly basis, I know the best lawyers in the country, so I am going to be matching clients with legal problems to the right lawyers and to the right service providers. This is a duly registered trust, operating above board, operating in terms of the laws of Zimbabwe. It started operating on 1 November 2016, so it is going to be doing a lot of work not only in terms of supporting legal matters but in defence of human rights, it will also be visible in communities and churches where we will be engaging in legal education.

I am a lawyer to the core and to the bone, and there is nothing anybody can do about that, so Mazibisa in terms of legal fraternity is still there but the focus will now be on legal education and legal aid.