Convicted Couple Duping Desperate Home Seekers
Image Credit: FacebookA notorious wife and husband, Florence (née Behane) Pambukani and Felix Pambukani, have been fleecing desperate home seekers at Crowhill Farm in Harare. Despite being former convicted and jailed fraudsters, the couple has continued to dupe unsuspecting individuals, leaving them in financial ruin.
Crowhill Private Limited owns the property, and scores of home seekers have lost their hard-earned money after the couple misled them into believing they were the legal owners of the land. The land in question, the Chirika Extension of Borrowdale Estate, measuring 121.4029 hectares, is held under a transfer deed. However, a High Court order issued in 2021 by former judge, Justice Webster Chinamora, and confirmed by the Supreme Court, prohibits the Pambukanis from selling off the land.
Despite this, the duo allegedly continues to defraud home seekers, ignoring the court order. According to court documents, the High Court ordered the eviction of all illegal occupants of the land. However, the illegal occupants who purchased the land from the Pambukanis failed to cooperate with the Sheriff of the High Court’s eviction order, leading to a standoff.
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Crowhill Farm has served affected individuals with letters inviting them to regularize their status or face eviction. The couple’s fraudulent activities have left many desperate land seekers in a precarious situation, with most having lost substantial amounts of money.
One legal occupant of Crowhill Farm confirmed that the Pambukanis once served time in prison over fraud. “I know the Pambukanis after they were convicted of fraud after defrauding Lonrho Zimbabwe and served eight years each in prison. After they were released from prison, they came here to Acorn Farm desperately seeking a stand, and we assisted them.”
The resident revealed that Florence Pambukani had attempted to contest in the leadership elections for Acorn Farm but was barred due to her criminal records. “Florence knew about our stands, which were 80 at the dam side area, which we wanted to give to a developer who would do a road for us. She went secretly to Dr Msipa and convinced him about the formation of Acorn Township Developing Association, a cooperative. But all this was for her and her husband to gain monetarily.”
The Pambukanis own a mere stand, which is just a tiny fraction of the land they are selling and leasing to unsuspecting individuals. Their rightful stand number 720 is on the Msipa side, far from where they are selling and leasing land.
Efforts to get a comment from the Pambukanis were fruitless, as their phones were unreachable until the time of publication. The couple is also accused of name-dropping, claiming to be closely connected to senior government officials, as a streak of history of evicting farmers from their land.
Last year, the couple hired thugs, who were armed with machetes, to attack workers at Wakefield Farm in the Selous Area 5, a farm they also illegally tried to wrestle from the owner, Kenneth Bartholomew. The farm workers were severely injured, and some are still receiving treatment at Chegutu Hospital. The takeover of Wakefield Farm by the Pambukanis also resulted in the eviction of 35 families, including children and the elderly.
In 2008, the Pambukanis illegally took over Scotsdale Farm, leading to the death of its rightful owner, Kobus Joubert, in 2010. After the eviction of Joubert, the couple also evicted all the farm workers who are now homeless after working there for years.
The Pambukanis’ criminal activities have left a trail of destruction, with many innocent people suffering financial losses and emotional trauma. It is imperative that the authorities take swift action to stop their illegal activities and bring them to justice.