The High Court of Zimbabwe has reinstated magistrate Sandra Mupindu as a trustee of the Shamba Charashika Bvumavaranda Trust, overturning what it described as a procedurally flawed amendment to the trust deed by her estranged husband, Simon Mupindu.
The couple is going through a nasty divorce after Simon, a top Harare lawyer, ditched the magistrate for his former intern, Catherine Tatenda Chitopota.
Simon is the one who has filed for divorce, and the matter is still pending.
Simon, now based in Chivhu, is also suing Chitopota for adultery.
Sandra told the High Court that Simon replaced her with Chitopota in the trust, prompting her to approach the courts for redress.
Justice Vivian Ndlovu sitting at the Harare High Court ruled in favour of Sandra declaring the Notarial Deed of Amendment to the trust—registered in 2023—to be “null, void, and of no effect.”
The court found that both her removal and the appointment of a new trustee, Chitopota, were unlawful.
“The removal of the applicant as a trustee was not procedurally done,” the judge wrote in the ruling.
“The appointment of the third respondent as a trustee was not procedurally done either. The applicant is entitled to the declaratory order sought.”
Sandra had alleged that she was removed from the trust without her knowledge or consent and that her signature was fraudulently appended to documents purporting to authorise the change.
She also claimed that two properties held under the trust were sold without her involvement.
The trust, established in 2014 and meant to safeguard family assets and benefit the couple’s children, had listed both Sandra and Simon Mupindu as trustees.
The court noted that Simon’s unilateral actions violated the terms of the original trust deed, which specified that only beneficiaries could alter trustee appointments.
Simon had argued that the trust was his initiative and claimed his wife’s role was symbolic.
However, the court dismissed his arguments and those of the other respondents, including his legal firm Mupindu Legal Practitioners, and Chitopota.
The fourth respondent, the Registrar of Deeds, did not oppose the application and has been ordered to amend official records accordingly.
Justice Ndlovu also dismissed all preliminary objections raised by the respondents, including claims of lis pendens (pending litigation), material falsehoods, and misjoinder.
In a stinging rebuke, the judge ordered Simon Mupindu, Chitopota, and the law firm to pay costs on a legal practitioner-client scale. NewZW
