AN administrator of the Estate of the late George Hambwalula has dragged UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to the Lusaka High Court over the alleged fraudulent purchase of three farms in Kalomo District, Southern Province.
Misheck Hambwalula has sued the UPND leader as the administrator of the estate of his late father, George Hambwalula, and as a beneficiary of the estate.
He is seeking an order for an interim injunction restraining Hichilema or his agents or anybody purporting to act on his behalf from carrying out farming activities, erecting structures, cutting down trees, entering, occupying or interfering with the beneficiaries’ quiet enjoyment of Farm Number 3275, Farm Number 801 and Farm Number 803, in Kalomo.
Hambwalula further wants an order that the alleged sale of Farm Number 3275 and Farm number 803, Kalomo District, to Hichilema is a nullity or null and void for failure to comply with the provisions of the Intestate Succession Act Chapter 59 of the Laws of Zambia.
He also wants an order for possession of Farm Number 3275, Farm Number 801 and Farm Number 803; Payment of mesne profits for illegal use and illegal occupation of the farms; and damages, among others.
According to a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, recently, Hambwalula stated that after the death of his father in 1998, he only came to find out about Hichilema’s activities on the said farms in 2015.
“The late Mr George Hambwalula owned Farm Number 801, Farm Number 803, Farm Number 804 and Farm Number 3275 in Kalomo District, Southern Province, Zambia. He was buried on Farm Number 801. After the funeral of his father, the plaintiff left his mothers and siblings in occupation of his late father’s farms in Kalomo District. For over 16 years after his father’s death, the plaintiff did not receive or hear of any complaint or problem regarding his father’s estate,” read the claim.
“The plaintiff shall aver at trial that he did not hear about the defendant occupying or trespassing or buying or leasing any of his late father’s farms. The plaintiff shall aver that it did not come to his attention that the defendant was interfering or had illegally occupied his late father’s farms until the year 2015.”
He stated that when he went to visit his siblings in 2015, he learnt that Hichilema, in the year 2000, had trespassed, fenced and illegally occupied Farms No. 3275, 801, and 803.
Hambwalula said he later took the matter to the Kalomo Local Court in 2016 which ruled that the estate of the late George Hambwalula has had no administrator from the time of his death adding that it proved Hichilema to be a liar because he alleged that he bought the farms from the purported administrators namely; Louis Hambwalula, Obert Hambwalula and Constance Hambwalula.
He further stated that there was no court order that was obtained to allow for the sale of the farms to the defendant as by law provided.
“The defendant, Mr Hakainde Hichilema, should have known and ought to know the provisions of the law that a court order is required by an Administrator before selling immovable property of a person who died intestate. The defendant is a neighbour and owns another farm in Kalomo and therefore ought to have known that the late died intestate and had more than one wife and many children who needed to be consulted before any sale or purchase can be undertaken,” read the claim further.
