Prominent lawyer Wilson Manase was taken into custody last Wednesday by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) over allegations of mismanaging a deceased estate.
Manase was apprehended as he exited the Harare Magistrate Court, where he was already facing another case related to the misuse of estate property.
His arrest follows a complaint lodged by Tongai Mhlanga, the son of the late businesswoman Jane Maisiri. Mhlanga accuses Manase, who was the executor of Maisiri’s estate, of failing to properly account for certain assets.
Manase had been at the court attending to a separate matter in which Langton Nyatsambo accuses him of unlawfully handling the estate of Nyatsambo’s late wife, Fiona Shadaya.
It is alleged that Manase falsified divorce documents to claim that Fiona and Nyatsambo were no longer married at the time of her death. This move allegedly aimed to prevent Nyatsambo from inheriting any part of the estate.
Manase asserts that he received the divorce papers from Fiona’s father, Marshal Shadaya. However, Shadaya refutes this claim, arguing that it was, in fact, Manase who provided him with the documents. Both men are expected to testify regarding the authenticity of the disputed divorce papers.
Nyatsambo further alleges that an investigation at the High Court revealed that the case number on Fiona’s supposed divorce certificate actually belonged to an unrelated white couple.