Court Reporter
A HARARE businesswoman has approached the Norton Magistrates Court seeking an interdict to stop a loan shark from communicating with her. She claims the loan shark forced her to pay US$59 650 as interest following threats of being harmed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close security detail.
Fungai Golowa, who got a US$13 000 loan from Leeroy Martin Honde, approached the courts last Friday represented by her lawyer Scott Panashe Mamimine, where she dragged Honde and his agents to court to interdict them from communicating with her and her employees harassing or threatening them in any manner.
She is also seeking the court to direct him not to visit her business premises or getting to distance of within 50 square metres of the office
Golowa is also seeking the court to direct Honde not to visit her place of residence or getting to distance of within 50 square metres of the premises in Braeside, Harare.
She submitted to the courts that Honde, a loan shark, assisted her with a loan for her business on December 14 last year.
She further told the court that Honde capitalised interest to exceed the capital sum and interest rates were he charged 40% on the outstanding balance of each and every payment she made.She is also seeking the court to direct him not to visit her business premises or getting to distance of within 50 square metres of the office
Golowa said from December last year to October 23 this year, she has paid US$59 650 and Honde made her sign acknowledgement of debts alleging that the money she borrowed was not his, but belonged to Mnangagwa’s security detail who was demanding usurious compounded interest rates.
She also accused Honde of demanding US$37 058 despite all the payments made to date.
Golowa said Honde would travel from Norton to Harare to collect money from her every day and whenever she hesitated to pay, he would indicate that the money belongs to an unnamed bigwig in the President’s Office.
“All this had a chilling effect on me to even ponder stopping payments. My situation got even worse with the respondent to the extent that he even made sexual advances, which I complained to the respondent as can be shown in the WhatsApp text messages.
“I really feared for my life up until I engaged a lawyer on October 20, Scott Panashe Mamimine. That is when my lawyer wrote a letter indicating to him that he was not going to receive a dime any longer,” Golowa submitted.
She said her lawyer had told her that Honde had actually robbed her of her money considering that the capital debt was paid and the interest equivalent to the capital debt was paid.
Honde, she said, was an unregistered money lender engaging in criminal offence in terms of the Money Lending Act.
“My fear has also intensified to alarming level considering that the respondent alleges that the money which is not due and payable in any case belongs to someone close to the President of this country, albeit he does not mention the name.
“He has made sexual advances towards me as shown elsewhere above. I really fear that the respondent is going to collude with the rogue security operatives to come at our business premise or my place of residence at any time and do the unimaginable or unthinkable of what l can dare to envisage of the worst which might befall me,” she said.
The matter is still pending at the courts.
Source: NewsDay
