The High Court of Zimbabwe has dismissed an application for condonation filed by the children of the late Simon Kapanga, who were seeking to review the distribution of the estate of their grandmother, Letty Kapanga.
In a judgment delivered in Harare, Maxwell Takuva ruled that the applicants — Anesu, Takesure and Tichaona Kapanga — failed to provide a reasonable explanation for the three-year delay in filing their review application.
The estate, which was registered in 2020 and finalised in 2022, had already been distributed. Eviction proceedings had also been initiated by the executrix dative, Emilia Tapiwa Kapanga.
The applicants argued that procedural errors and mismanagement, including the departure of their legal practitioner from Manyangadze Law Practice, prevented them from filing the review on time. They also claimed they had not been properly notified of edict meetings at the Master’s Office and alleged that some portions of the estate, including land and garden areas, were wrongly distributed to the second respondent and her sisters.
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However, Justice Takuva found that the delay was excessive and that the explanation given by the applicants was unreasonable. The court noted that the applicants had sufficient opportunity to assert their rights and that proper notifications, including newspaper advertisements announcing the finalisation of the estate, had been issued.
The court emphasised that condonation for late filing requires both a reasonable explanation for the delay and realistic prospects of success in the review, conditions that the applicants failed to meet.
“Having applied the established principles and the relevant jurisprudence of this court, I find that the applicants have failed to discharge the burden required for the granting of condonation,” the judge said.
“The explanation for the delay of three years is inadequate and unreasonable. It further consists of an unsubstantiated claim of negligence by their legal practitioners. To grant condonation in these circumstances would undermine the rules of the court and the principle of finality in litigation.”
The High Court therefore dismissed the application for condonation, with no order as to costs.
The applicants were represented by Mangwana & Partners, while Chiminya & Associates acted for the second respondent.
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