THE wife of tycoon Mzi Khumalo is demanding that lawyers of her husband's former associate return items removed from the couple's Zimbali home last week over a R55-million deal that turned sour.
Makhosazana Khumalo has told Lebanese businessman Pierre Fattouch's South African lawyers that the goods taken from their palatial mansion were not her husband's.
"The goods which have been attached by the sheriff of the court do not belong to my husband Mzi Khumalo, and they are owned by me in my personal capacity," she said, adding that they were married out of community of property.
In a sworn statement she sent to the Lower Tugela sheriff for the high and lower courts, Rishaad Singh, Makhosazana said she bought all the movables and furnished the property between 1997 and 1998.
Singh, who oversaw the sale of the goods, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Makhosazana said she no longer had the receipts to prove that she paid for the goods but promised to get bank statements showing that she had indeed paid for the items.
Sowetan has reliably learnt that the goods are worth a few thousand rands and are unlikely to cover Khumalo's debt, which is approaching R80-million including interest.
Khumalo's troubles with Fattouch date back to 2009 when the pair reached an agreement over a sale of shares and a mining deal in Armenia.
Fattouch approached local courts in 2012 after Khumalo failed to pay as agreed.
Khumalo was supposed to pay $5-million (about R55-million at today's exchange rates) in four instalments for the licences.
According to papers filed by Fattouch at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Khumalo had reached an oral agreement for Fattouch not to proceed with litigation until he [Fattouch] had obtained two lucrative mining licences in Armenia.
Fattouch won the case during arbitration in France and successfully applied to the South Gauteng High Court to have the award made an order of the court.
Khumalo failed in his attempt to appeal Judge Sherise Weiner's decision in May.
The ex-Robben Island political prisoner and Umkhonto weSizwe operative's mining company, Metallon Gold, is Zimbabwe's largest gold miner and responsible for about 50% of that country's total production.
However, the extent of his wealth in South Africa is unclear as the Reserve Bank slapped him with an order of forfeiture rumoured to be worth R1-billion for flouting exchange control laws in 2011. Khumalo could not be reached for comment.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
R55m deal gone wrong - Mzi's wife says sherrif took her things
THE wife of tycoon Mzi Khumalo is demanding that lawyers of her husband's former associate return items removed from the couple's Zimbali home last week over a R55-million deal that turned sour.
Makhosazana Khumalo has told Lebanese businessman Pierre Fattouch's South African lawyers that the goods taken from their palatial mansion were not her husband's.
"The goods which have been attached by the sheriff of the court do not belong to my husband Mzi Khumalo, and they are owned by me in my personal capacity," she said, adding that they were married out of community of property.
In a sworn statement she sent to the Lower Tugela sheriff for the high and lower courts, Rishaad Singh, Makhosazana said she bought all the movables and furnished the property between 1997 and 1998.
Singh, who oversaw the sale of the goods, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Makhosazana said she no longer had the receipts to prove that she paid for the goods but promised to get bank statements showing that she had indeed paid for the items.
Sowetan has reliably learnt that the goods are worth a few thousand rands and are unlikely to cover Khumalo's debt, which is approaching R80-million including interest.
Khumalo's troubles with Fattouch date back to 2009 when the pair reached an agreement over a sale of shares and a mining deal in Armenia.
Fattouch approached local courts in 2012 after Khumalo failed to pay as agreed.
Khumalo was supposed to pay $5-million (about R55-million at today's exchange rates) in four instalments for the licences.
According to papers filed by Fattouch at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Khumalo had reached an oral agreement for Fattouch not to proceed with litigation until he [Fattouch] had obtained two lucrative mining licences in Armenia.
Fattouch won the case during arbitration in France and successfully applied to the South Gauteng High Court to have the award made an order of the court.
Khumalo failed in his attempt to appeal Judge Sherise Weiner's decision in May.
The ex-Robben Island political prisoner and Umkhonto weSizwe operative's mining company, Metallon Gold, is Zimbabwe's largest gold miner and responsible for about 50% of that country's total production.
However, the extent of his wealth in South Africa is unclear as the Reserve Bank slapped him with an order of forfeiture rumoured to be worth R1-billion for flouting exchange control laws in 2011. Khumalo could not be reached for comment.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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