THE late vice-president Phelekezela Mphoko’s son, Siqokoqela, has filed a staggering US$500 000 suit against his relative who accused him of raping her daughter, then aged 12, as the family squabbles intensify.
In May 2023, Bulawayo regional magistrate Elijah Singano sentenced Siqokoqela to 20 years in prison for three counts of rape and escaping lawful custody.
Singano had ruled that Siqokoqela violated the victim’s constitutional rights and betrayed her family’s trust.
The businessman successfully appealed his 20-year jail sentence last year and walked out of prison.
High Court judges Justices Bongani Ndlovu and Munamato Mutevedzi poked holes into the rape charges saying the court found that the child’s mother may have influenced the complainant.
The judges said the delayed reporting of the crime raised suspicions about the conviction’s reliability.
Last week, Siqokoqela’s lawyers Majoko and Majoko legal practitioners wrote to the mother of the alleged rape victim, demanding US$500 000 for malicious prosecution.
The lawyers said the mother made a report to the police that Siqokoqela had had unlawful carnal knowledge of her daughter.
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“As a result of your complaint, our client was arrested by the police, detained and arraigned for trial,” reads in part a letter of demand by Siqokoqela’s lawyers addressed to the mother of the alleged victim.
“You gave evidence at the trial implicating our client and persisted with your allegations.
“Our client was, in part of your evidence, convicted and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
“On appeal, our client was acquitted on the basis that the charges against him were fabricated and actually by malice.”
Siqokoqela’s lawyers said their client suffered irreparable damage after his conviction and sentence.
“His reputation and standing in society has been diminished in the eyes of the right thinking members of society,” they said.
“The damages are aggravated by the fact that the alleged victim is a very close relative. Our client was cast in the image of a sexual predator.
“Unless payment or other satisfactory arrangements are made, our instructions are to issue summons against you without further notice to you.”
In a social media post last year, Siqokoqela claimed that his late father was the mastermind behind the rape allegations.
Siqokoqela had a nasty fallout with other family members last year after he demanded answers about his biological mother.
He accused his father of causing his arrest after he suggested that Mphoko’s wife, Laurinda, was not his biological mother.
The family feud first played out in March 2023 when Siqokoqela took to Facebook and X, appealing to the public to help him locate his biological mother.
Mphoko (82), who died early last month in India and was declared a national hero, was buried at his family plot in Douglasdale, Bulawayo.
Siqokoqela did not attend the funeral because of the frosty relations.
