Former Minister fails to pay rent

HARARE – Former co-home affairs minister, Giles Mutsekwa, has had several movable properties attached by the Messenger of Court in Harare for failing to pay about US$5 600 rentals, the Financial Gazette has established.

Mutsekwa, who was home affairs minister and later housing minister in the Government of National Unity that existed between 2009 and 2013, has had his kitchen tables, chairs, lounge suites and a Nissan Hardbody truck placed under the hammer for failing to pay rent for a government house situated at number 14268 Straker Avenue, Gunhill, Harare.

Interestingly, his former ministry, the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, through the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office, gunned for Mutsekwa after he failed to pay the rent between May 2012 and April this year.

His furniture has since been sold for an undisclosed amount and his Nissan Hardbody registration number AAJ 3776 will be sold on Saturday by public auction.

The Ministry of Local Government is seeking to recover a total of US$5 638 from Mutsekwa after his US$4 400 rent arrears accrued interest and other costs.

Mutsekwa, a Movement for Democratic Change member, co-led the home affairs ministry with Kembo Mohadi before being reassigned to the housing and social amenities ministry portfolio just before the GNU’s life-span ended.

Mutsekwa is not the only high-profile citizen to be dragged before the courts for failure to settle their dues.

The economic hardships that have blighted the country’s economy for over two decades are now taking their toll on the elite members of society as well, having already condemned the poor to the deepest depths of poverty.

Principally, the country is not generating enough cash to keep up with the huge foreign currency outflows. The result has been a biting liquidity crisis that has inhibited people’s capacities to pay for goods and services.

As a result, many are resorting to the courts to compel their debtors to pay, including auctioning their assets in order to reduce the level of indebtedness.

Mercurial politician, Temba Mliswa is currently engaged in endless court battles with CBZ Bank, which attached his movable properties in Karoi recently, in a bid to recover monies owed to the institution by the businessman.

Last year, Happison Muchechetere, the former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation chief executive officer, had his tractor attached after he failed to settle an undisclosed debt owed to the Zimbabwe Farmers Development Company.

Zimbabwe Football Association president, Cuthbert Dube was also raided by the deputy sheriff this year after he acted as guarantor for a debt incurred by the debt-ridden soccer administrative body. The Financial Gazette