Malawi judge faces scrutiny over $150,000 Land Cruiser ruling

Malawi High Court Justice Simeon Mdeza faces criticism over a June 18 ruling involving a Toyota Land Cruiser valued in an Oct. 23 Nyasa Times report at about $150,000.

The dispute now has a cross-border criminal dimension: Nyasa Times gave the vehicle’s value as about $150,000, or K257 million, and said Zimbabwean authorities confirmed an Interpol Red Notice.

The ownership fight pits Zimbabwean businessman Nesbert Mukora, who says the Land Cruiser was stolen from his Harare car-hire business, against Malawian businessman Yollam Kawanga, who says he bought it lawfully and in good faith.

Justice Mdeza dismissed Mukora’s application to stop enforcement proceedings over the vehicle, according to the report. By the time the application was heard, the Land Cruiser had already been released to Kawanga.

Justice Mdeza said in the ruling: “The law will become useless if it fails to protect Malawian victims of such fraudulent devices, who end up losing the hard-earned cash ... to those rogues.”

A retired High Court judge quoted by Nyasa Times criticised the reasoning, saying the court risked framing the dispute around nationality rather than ownership evidence. “The concern is the framing of the dispute as a contest between Malawian victims and foreign wrongdoers before the competing factual and legal claims have been fully resolved,” the retired judge said.

The same retired judge said nationality should not determine legal rights. “Nationality does not establish innocence, just as foreign ownership does not establish entitlement,” the judge said, according to Nyasa Times.

Kawanga relied on a Temporary Importation Permit from the Malawi Revenue Authority and a police clearance certificate from the Malawi Police Service, Nyasa Times reported. The dispute turns in part on whether such documents proved lawful ownership or merely supported possession and movement of the vehicle.

The report said investigators traced the Land Cruiser to Malawi after it was hired in Harare in April 2025 and not returned. It also said earlier investigations cited South African police findings that fraudulent registration papers had allegedly been used in connection with the vehicle.

Zimbabwe’s National Prosecuting Authority requested the Interpol Red Notice for Margret Joleen Janse Van Vuuren on Aug. 19 in connection with allegations involving the Land Cruiser, according to Nyasa Times. Zimbabwe Republic Police confirmed in October that the notice had been issued and that Van Vuuren had not been arrested in Zimbabwe.

An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law-enforcement agencies to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person pending extradition proceedings. It is not, by itself, a finding of guilt.

Nyasa Times reported that the Land Cruiser remains in Malawi. The report did not give a date for any next court hearing, extradition step or arrest proceeding.

Source: news report, Nyasa Times via AllAfrica, Oct. 23, 2026