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I have been having a tough time dealing your staff, to a point where I have had to get the SIU involved. Your staff - brazenly, rudely and arrogantly - refuse to implement court orders. – Tuwani Mulaudzi

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Sizwe sama Yende

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After a successful seven-year fight to clear his name on fraud, theft, money laundering and racketeering, businessman Tuwani Mulaudzi thought he would start rebuild his life and business empire.

However, another legal challenge cropped up - from the Master of the High Court officials who withheld his assets and cash worth R105 million.

Mulaudzi is the executive chairperson of Luvhomba Group, which has an interest in mining, IT, consulting and retail.

His life went topsy-turvy in 2014 after a dispute with Old Mutual over a R48 million investment he was accused of having ceded to Nedbank but demanded that it be paid to him when it matured.

Mulaudzi had taken a R33 million investment frontiers policy with Fairbairn Capital, underwritten by Old Mutual.

This dispute subsequently prompted the Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to freeze Mulaudzi’s assets as he was accused of having ceded the policy to Nedbank in return for R37.6 million. The AFU said that Mulaudzi tried to buy back the policy from Nedbank in 2012, but the bank refused. He then used the same policy to get an overdraft facility at Absa.

The Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court vindicated Mulaudzi in June 2022, but his assets in cash and properties have not been released to him two years later.

He reported the matter to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate what believes is collusion between trustees, liquidators and staff members in the Master of the High Court’s office.

The People’s Eye has seen an e-mail Mulaudzi wrote to acting chief master, Advocate Kanyane Mathibe, on April 29 complaining about behaviour of his officials, the trustees and liquidators.

“I have been having a tough time dealing your staff, to a point where I have had to get the SIU involved. Your staff - brazenly, rudely and arrogantly - refuse to implement court orders,” Mulaudzi wrote.

“To date, my family have to endure the humiliation of properties being auctioned and face evictions because of unscrupulous trustees and liquidators, whom I have reasonable belief they are in cahoots with your staff. I have brought this issue to the attention of the then Acting Chief Master, Ms. Penelope Roberts, to no avail. I hope that you will be in a position to assist,” he continued.

Mulaudzi said that as far as he was concerned,  the Master of High Court had the powers to intervene and stop the liquidators and trustees from acting in the manner they did.

 “But, obviously, such pleas continue to fall on deaf ears because people have invested financial interests because of the corrupt relationships they have with trustees and liquidators,” he added.

Mathibe and Chrispin Phiri, the spokesperson for Justice and Correctional Services, did not respond to written questions emailed to them on May 7.   

SIU’s spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyango, also did not respond to questions.

The offices of the Master of the High Court have been earning notoriety over the past few years for corruption and fleecing the poor. Last month, the Department of Justice suspended 13 senior officials including masters of the high courts in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein for corruption and incompetence.

Mulaudzi said that the level of corruption in the master’s office and clandestine relationship with appointed liquidators was astounding. “I am encouraged by the suspensions of some of the top officials, but this is just a tip of the iceberg. There is also a need to investigate attorneys who represent these liquidators. Their level of corruption must be dealt with decisively as well,” he said.