Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, is racing against time to save his property from the grip of Deputy Sheriffs after his law firm failed to pay P180k in rent arrears.
Mthimkhulu Attorneys’ movable assets to be attached by messengers of the court include three-piece sofas, chairs, computers and a Nashua copier.
Last week, Senior Magistrate Rosemay Malebogo Khuto ordered Deputy Sheriffs to attach the property after it emerged that Mthimkhulu Attorneys owed P180k in unpaid rent to Kgadimo Kelebale who rented out Plot 546, Extension 4, Gaborone, to the law firm since March 2017.
According to a Lease Agreement between the parties, the law firm was to pay P7,700 rent per month .
“The Lease Agreement expired but Respondent continued to be in occupation of the premises under the same terms and conditions of the expired lease”, Kelebale’s affidavit states in part.
Furthermore, the applicant says the law firm occupied the premises for 18 months without paying rent until August 2021.
One of the terms of the agreement was that the rental would escalate at 10 percent per annum, but the Respondent never paid the escalated rental adjustment, says Kelebale.
Mthimkhulu did not oppose the application for the attachment of his movable property, according to court records.
Reached for comment this afternoon, Mthimkhulu expressed no knowledge of any court order against his law firm but confirmed the existence of unpaid rent.
He said they have made an arrangement to settle the debt.
“I can confirm that we are paying the debt at the moment,” he said during our brief interview.