HARARE – The High Court has ordered the forfeiture to the state of a Mandara house and a Toyota Hilux linked to former NetOne cashier Daniel Kalira, ruling that the assets were acquired using proceeds of crime from a large-scale fraud at the state-owned telecommunications firm.
In a judgment handed down on January 14, 2026, Justice Benjamin Chikowero found that Kalira used unlawfully obtained funds to purchase the assets and then went to “extreme lengths” to conceal their true ownership by fronting relatives and close associates. The ruling followed an opposed civil forfeiture application by the Prosecutor General under the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act.
Kalira is facing criminal charges at the Harare Magistrates Court, where he is accused of defrauding NetOne of ZWL$108 million worth of airtime vouchers between September 2021 and May 2022. Prosecutors allege he manipulated the company’s inventory management system by splitting transactions and creating fictitious physical airtime entries, which he then stole. No recoveries were made.
The state alleged that Kalira laundered the proceeds of the fraud by purchasing Stand 913 Mandara Township in December 2021, while posing his grandmother, Harriet Kalira, as the buyer. Justice Chikowero rejected claims that the US$52,000 purchase price came from a gratuity allegedly sent from Australia by Harriet Kalira’s former employer.
“Australia and Africa are continents apart. There is no paper trail showing the lawful movement of an amount of US$58,000 from Australia to Cape Town,” the judge said.
Affidavits and border declaration forms produced to support the claim were dismissed after evidence from ZIMRA showed the documents were fraudulent. The court noted that the date stamp on the declaration form had been decommissioned, while the font and missing officer details further undermined its credibility.
The court found that Kalira personally drove the Mandara transaction, viewing the property, paying cash and signing the agreement of sale, while the purported purchaser played no role.
“The most probable inference that I draw from these facts is that the purchaser was the first respondent,” Chikowero ruled.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of a Toyota Hilux registered in the name of Kalira’s partner and the mother of his child, Charlotte Chivavarirwa, after rejecting claims that it was bought using proceeds from a gold mining joint venture.
“I am satisfied that the first and second respondents connived to craft a fictitious joint venture agreement to give the false impression that the US$32,000 used to purchase this vehicle was her share of the proceeds,” the judge said.
Justice Chikowero stressed that under the law, the state does not need to prove a direct link between property and a specific offence.
“What must be proved is that the property is proceeds from some conduct constituting or associated with some serious criminal offence,” he said.
The court ordered that the Mandara property and the Toyota Hilux be transferred to the state within seven days, failing which the Sheriff of the High Court would execute the transfers. Other luxury vehicles initially targeted were spared after the state conceded they had been acquired before the alleged criminal conduct. Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.
Earlier dispute involving leaked audio
Kalira’s name had previously surfaced in a separate and earlier personal dispute that briefly attracted national attention after leaked audio recordings drew in Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, although the matter was unrelated to the NetOne fraud case.
The episode arose after Kalira reported to the police in September that Tariro Shangu, a law officer at the Ministry of Justice and his former partner, had sent abusive emails and text messages to his workplace and posted defamatory content on social media. He also alleged that she threatened to release intimate images of him.
Police recorded a statement from Shangu and indicated at the time that they were considering charges under Section 88 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, which criminalises the sending of offensive, indecent or threatening electronic communications.
The dispute escalated when Kalira phoned Ziyambi, accusing the minister of having an affair with Shangu and of influencing the handling of the complaint. In the leaked recording, Ziyambi angrily denied the allegation and rejected claims that he had any capacity to interfere with police processes.
The audio later circulated widely online. Kalira claimed it had been leaked by Florence Ziyambi, the minister’s estranged wife, whom he said he had approached for advice without knowing that divorce proceedings were already under way.
Subsequent leaked recordings, including conversations between Kalira and relatives, suggested a bitter personal fallout between Kalira and Shangu. Kalira later distanced himself from the adultery claims, alleging that he had been pressured and that the accusations were unfounded.
Ziyambi publicly dismissed the allegations as false, stating that he had no improper relationship with Shangu and no authority to influence criminal proceedings. Shangu also denied the allegations, saying she had never been married to Kalira and had no romantic relationship with the minister.
Ziyambi later confirmed in court filings that he was divorcing his wife of 27 years, stating that they had not lived together for several years.
Kalira’s NetOne fraud trial is continuing before the Harare Magistrates Court.
