A GWERU couple with hearing, speech and mental disabilities lost their home after they were tricked into giving up their title deeds as collateral for a $100,000 loan taken out by a stranger around 2009.
Now the couple, Mr Paul John Frank Navratil and Mrs Beauty Maremira Navratil, their family and tenants, have been living out of their home in the suburb of Athlone for the past 15 days after being evicted by a court messenger.
Maggie Dlodlo bought the house for $20,000 in 2016, but didn’t vacate it until April 19 of this year.
Sunday News visited the Navratil family in Gweru where the crew found them sitting in despair outside their home.
Since both Mr. and Mrs. Navratil cannot listen and talk much, this reporter spoke through Mrs. Jocelyn Maremera, Mrs. Navratil’s sister, who has been living with them for 12 years.
“This problem started in 2009 when a man called Noble Maguo took out a loan from Agribank (now AFC Bank) in Gweru and put up two of his residential stalls in Mkoba 9 as collateral. He was supposed to repay the loan within 60 days but he failed and was taken to court by Before the bank.
“Then he called Mr Navratil, my brother-in-law who has a psychological problem and cannot hear or speak well. Mr Maguwu asked for the title deeds and said he would return them after six months because he wanted to get a loan.
“He bought a meal for my brother-in-law and promised to give him US$200 a month until the documents were returned but he never paid him and did not return the documents,” Ms Maremera said.
It later emerged that Mr Magoo and his wife Busisoi fraudulently added Mr Navratil to the documents of their company – Nacbol Investments (Pvt) Limited (Parama Bakery) – saying they were business partners.
“The title deeds were handed over to the bank with a fake power of attorney and Mr. Navratil signed some documents agreeing to release his title deeds under the so-called continuous security bonds. This means that the bonds will remain in the bank and he can borrow more money even after paying the amount of 100 lakhs.” American dollar.
Ms Marimera said she filed a report at the police headquarters in Harare and also at the Agribank headquarters where she was told that the bank could not seize the house.
She said: “I was told that the papers were unclear and that the bank could not seize the house, and I was asked to submit a police report to ensure that investigations would begin.”
“We applied to the High Court and were told that the house could not be sold but after three days the house was sold. We were left confused.”
What also puzzled the family was that the US$100,000 paid to Nacbol Investments was a very large sum to invest in a small bakery in Gweru in 2010.
Mr. Magoo was summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and questioned about his relationship with Mr. Navratil. He reportedly said he did not know him but had just used his property deeds. However, it is said about him He was never arrested.
Then the news was filtered through
The manager who authorized the US$100,000 loan fled to the UK after the case was discovered.
Mr Alfred Maremera, Ms Maremera Navratil’s brother, attempted to obtain information from the Bulawayo High Court Sheriff in 2017 regarding the sale of the house and was shown the case file.
“Surprisingly, when I went there last year they refused to show me the file and said it was mixed up with a Dairiboard case file. I insisted that the lady who served me write to that effect. I understand the woman has also left her job since then.
“I wanted to know exactly what was achieved from the sale of the house, who bought it and when the title deeds were also transferred,” Mr Maremera said.
Mr Magoo was sending all correspondence relating to the sale of the property and court documents to his residential address in Lundy Park, so that the family were unaware of what was happening until they lost the house.
Ms Maremera also questioned why Maggie Dlodlo only showed up at the house on eviction day in April this year and how she bought a house seven years ago without viewing it or communicating with the owners.
She added: “We were shocked when we saw the water bills come in her name last year, but we had never seen or heard about her before.”
When Ms Maremera was asked about the relationship between Mr Magoo and Mr Navratil, she said they were not friends.
“They never hung out together, they weren’t friends, but there’s a friend of Mr. Navratil’s called Uncle Joe, who’s a musician, who used to borrow musical instruments from him, and who came with Mr. Magoo and introduced him before he came and took the deeds.
“But Joe knew about my brother-in-law’s condition, and he was unable to enter into any legal agreements on his own without an assistant. They took advantage of him and stole his property.”
Mr. Navratil was the victim of other locals who were helping themselves to his property taking advantage of his condition.
A 15 hectare plot of land at Christmas present in Gweru was exchanged for a car and he once owned 12 vehicles but does not own one after people cheated him.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Muguo were fruitless and reports indicate that Ms Dlodlo applied to the High Court to move the blind couple and their family from the front of the house. Sunday news
