By Mwaka Ndawa
SON of late Geoffrey Hambulo, Mulundu, has disclosed that his father did not pay dowry to Nawakwi’s family to signify the existence of the marriage and he always refused to do so while he was alive.
Mulundu told the Lusaka High Court that before Hambulo’s burial, Nawakwi’s family demanded that the Hambulos pay her bride price failure to which the deceased would not be put to rest.
In this matter, Nawakwi being the surviving spouse of the late Hambulo, has sued her stepchildren in the Lusaka High Court for wrongly obtaining letters of administration of his estate without her consent and excluding her as an administratrix.
She is seeking an order of revocation of Mweemba and Mulundu’s letters of administration granted to them by the court on January 12, 2022Nawakwi wants an order compelling the respondents to give a full account of the assets managed by themselves while they were executing their functions as administrators
She wants an injunction restraining Mweemba and Mulundu from further acting as administrators of late Hambulo and doing any actions that affect the management of his But in an affidavit in opposition to affidavit in support of ex-parte summons for an order of interim injunction and for an application for grant of letters of administration, Mulundu said during the church service on the date of his father’s burial, a Mr Mugala, whose wife is Nawakwi’s friend, said that the late Hambulo had left an incomplete will.
He said Nawakwi refused to work with himself and Mweemba despite the fact that they were the only children of the late Hambulo who were currently staying in Zambia.
Mulundu, who denied convening meetings in Nawakwi’s absence, charged that himself and Mweemba would not have been confirmed as administrators by the Lusaka High Court if they were not competent to manage their father’s estate as they were degree holders and that they were not minors.
“Mweemba is a holder of a bachelor’s degree in public administration, working at a bank as a multi skills sales consultant and I am a pilot. All of our siblings are all of the age of majority and there is no need to have a family elder to represent the interests of the deceased’s children when we are not minors,” Mulundu said.
“The applicant (Nawakwi) has been sidelining us. From the time we obtained a grant of letters of administration, she has been preventing us from having access to our father’s estate to enable us carry out our duties as administrators.”
Mulundu said there was no document of their father’s wishes in his laptop bag as it was opened in full view of family members contrary to Nawakwi’s claims.
He said himself and Mweemba did not recognise the authenticity of the purported draft will because three paragraphs were omitted and replaced with insults to the children of the late Hambulo which was shocking because all the children had a cordial relationship with their father.
Mulundu said himself and Mweemba did not erroneously obtain letters of administration to the estate of their late father as nothing incapacitates them from administering their father’s estate.
LHe said there was no need to seek permission from Nawakwi before applying for letters of administration as she started living with their father in 2006 after he divorced their mother, Georgina Daka, in October 2005 and he never re-married after the said divorce.
Mulundu stated that they asked Nawakwi to surrender keys to their father’s office at plot no.55 Luwato Road, Roma, to enable them to perform their functions as administrators and identify their father’s assets but Nawakwi verbally abused them.
He said he wrote to the tenants not to give rentals to Nawakwi but deposit the money in his father’s bank account in order to preserve the funds pending administration of the estate but Nawakwi told the tenants to ignore his letters on the pretext that they were fake.
“Nawakwi is not and has never been willing to hand over the affairs of the deceased’s estate to the administrators and has imposed herself as the sole administratrix despite not having any authorisation to administer the deceased’s estate,”Mulundu said.
“There is no need to appoint an interim administrator but Nawakwi should instead handover all the deceased’s property in her possession, including the Panda Hatchery store, room keys to the office in Roma and the adjoining units on the same property, gun license, an iphone, Apple MacBook laptop, journals, diaries and vital documentation such as certificates of title to the plots and other personal effects belonging to the late Hambulo which she has refused to avail to the administrators.”
Mulundu said after informing Nawakwi about his confirmation as an administrator together with his brother, he moved herds of cattle property (grass baler machine, cutter machine, fork lift, John Deere planter, shearer and a balcony planter) from the late Hambulo’s premises in Makeni and moved them to her private farm in Chisamba.
He further opposed to the granting of an injunction as Nawakwi was not a fit person to be entrusted with the administration of his father’s estate as there was a likelihood that the property would be misappropriated or squandered by Nawakwi and the intended beneficiaries would not have full access to the estate