War vet threatens to ‘kill’ borehole driller

A WAR veteran from Sawmills, in Umguza District, Matabeleland North Province, has threatened to “kill” a proprietor of a borehole drilling company after the company allegedly failed to complete the job of drilling a borehole at his homestead despite being paid in full.

Cde Mvuyelwa Mike Ncube has been in and out of court, since 2014 trying to recover $4 100 which he paid to Upshore Engineering to drill up to 50 metres to reach the water level at his homestead.

According to court papers, Upshore Engineering only drilled 13 metres and stated that their machine was not powerful enough to complete the task and they would return after two weeks with another machine to finish the job.

The company, however, reneged on its commitment resulting in Cde Ncube approaching the courts for recourse, albeit with little joy.

In March last year, Cde Ncube was granted a default judgment by Bulawayo magistrate Mr Tawanda Muchemwa after the proprietor of Upshore Engineering Mr Mkhululi Zikhali absconded court.

However, despite having won an order to attach Mr Zikhali’s property to offset the $4 100 debt, Cde Ncube claims the former has been elusive and efforts to locate him at his address have been fruitless. Cde Ncube told Sunday News that the Deputy Sheriff ’s office has been failing to locate Mr Zikhali at the residential address he had given the courts.

“I’m afraid if I go and look for him as I might kill him. I’m a war veteran. I don’t want to harm him. It’s best if the Deputy Sheriff looks for him, because if I do I will beat him up,” he said.

Cde Ncube said he had also engaged the services of Royal Legal Aid Trust in trying to locate Mr Zikhali and recover his money, but he had seen no joy either.

He said he, through Royal Legal Aid Trust, paid the money that was required by the Deputy Sheriff to execute the order but the money allegedly never reached the intended target.

Cde Ncube said efforts to locate a Mr Ndlovu from the Legal Aid Trust, whom he dealt with, have been fruitless as he was now elusive and like Mr Zikhali, could not be located.

“I paid him $300, and he was supposed to take $100 for his services and transfer the rest to the Deputy Sheriff ’s office so that they can look for Zikhali and attach his property. Ndlovu has not done that. I’m also looking for him and I can’t find him. He is not picking his mobile phone which most of the time will be switched off,” said a frustrated Cde Ncube.

Sunday News also tried to contact Mr Ndlovu on his mobile phone but could not as his phone was not reachable.

Cde Ncube, who said he took a loan to raise the $300 that was required for him to execute the court order against Mr Zikhali, expressed frustration at the lack of progress in his case.