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Buyanga faces jail over US$172k debt

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SOUTH AFRICA-BASED Zimbabwean businessman Frank Buyanga has been taken to court by Harare man, Patison Sithole, who is seeking his civil imprisonment over a 2014 US$172 000 debt which has remained unserviced since three years ago.

BY CHARLES LAITON

SOUTH AFRICA-BASED Zimbabwean businessman Frank Buyanga has been taken to court by Harare man, Patison Sithole, who is seeking his civil imprisonment over a 2014 US$172 000 debt which has remained unserviced since three years ago.

According to the court papers, Sithole instituted civil proceedings against Zimcortrust Limited, Buyanga and one Fiona Machekeche sometime in August 2015. The legal suit culminates from a dispute over a residential stand in Glen Lorne, Harare.

When the matter was determined by High Court judge Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo on November 18, 2015, Buyanga and his co-defendants were ordered to pay Sithole over US$100 000, but the pair has defied the order.

This has prompted Sithole to approach the High Court for a civil imprisonment order.

“You (Frank Buyanga) are called upon to pay the plaintiff (Patison Sithole) the sum of US$172 204,30, with interest thereon at the prescribed rate of 5% per annum from November 18, 2015 to the date of payment. You are required to pay this sum by virtue of a judgment obtained against you in the High Court at Harare on November 18, 2015, under which you were also ordered to pay the cost of that case, which amount is to be taxed,” Sithole said in the summons for civil imprisonment.

Sithole further said in the event that Buyanga failed to pay the said cash, he would have to appear before a High Court judge and explain his position.

“If you fail to pay the sum specified above, you must appear before the High Court at Harare on June 12, 2019, at 10am, to explain why you have not paid it and to show cause why an order for your imprisonment should not be made on account of your failure to pay. You should bring with you evidence of your financial position, and it will be in your own interest to give the court the evidence of your income from wages, salary or other earnings, and any other income you may receive from any other source, your expenses for yourself and any dependents and any other liabilities you may be subject.”

According to the summons, Buyanga would not be committed to prison if his position on how he intended to extinguish the debt is be accepted by the court. The matter is pending.