SONS of the late Christ Ministries Church founder Cuthbert Tafundikira Makoni have dragged three members of the church’s board of trustees to the High Court seeking to nullify their appointment.
In the application filed last Monday, Colin Zondai Makoni and Eustace Makoni cited the Trust, former permanent secretary in the Education ministry Stephen Mahere, Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ) founding director Godfrey Kanyenze and Elvis Chikiwa as respondents.
The Trust, which was founded by the Makoni family in 2001, is in charge of diverse activities, including the day-to-day running of the church, the Christ Ministries High School and an orphanage.
Some of the members of the board include Makoni’s wife and the other children, Auxilia, Jullen, Blessing and Innocent.
According to the application, the two sons are challenging the appointment of Mahere, Kanyenze and Chikiwa, arguing that upon their appointment in 2016, they immediately took control of the running of the church and its subsidiaries.
They further argued that the trio also made decisions that affected the smooth running of the church, school and orphanage.
“Several decisions like registration of the orphanage with the ministry of Social Welfare, awarding of contracts to companies and holding of illegal meetings proceeded together with the appointment of office bearers without the endorsement of the trustee, notwithstanding the patent illegality of these actions,” the pair argued.
They demanded the removal of the three from the board, saying they were appointed without the family’s approval.
“On the 3rd of November 2016, the parties had their first trustees meeting in terms of the amended Trust Deed, but the meeting reached a stalemate in regards to the issue of co-opted trustees.
“Having failed to reach a consensus on the issue of co-opted trustees, some trustees decided to ignore the presence of the plaintiffs and voted for these three trustees to be co-opted.”
The two demanded the holding of a properly constituted meeting within seven days of the order to deal with the issues of the board of trustees and their activities.
