By Tendai Kamhungira
Former Lands minister Douglas Mombeshora and his wife Millicent are set to lose household property worth thousands of dollars after failing to pay back an undisclosed amount of money to a local bank.
According to a notice seen by the Daily News, KM Actions (Private) Limited is set to auction the property mid next week after the couple lost a court case to the financial institution.
“Duly instructed by the Sheriff of the High Court of Zimbabwe, we shall set by public auction the following assets to the highest bidder on Wednesday 9 January 2019 at our premises No. 20 Edison Crescent Graniteside at 12pm,” the notice reads.
In terms of the notice, the former Cabinet minister and his wife, are set to lose, a Capri washing machine, two wooden sideboards, two-door steel cabinets, massaging machine, a broken desk, electronic digital safe, books, a Sony television, a plasma television, steel shelf, gym equipment and a boardroom table, among other items.
The obtaining harsh economic climate has proved to be difficult for especially Zanu PF bigwigs who lost their plush jobs at the birth of the Second Republic under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Last year, the Daily News reported that several politicians linked to Zanu PF and white commercial farmers have been dragged to court by employees at their farms across the country over failure to pay wages.
In a development that exposes how the elite is finally feeling the pinch of economic hardships being faced by the majority in the country, the Progressive Agriculture and Allied Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Paawuz) — the union which represents farm workers — said it was forced to approach the Labour Court where the matters are still pending.
Court documents in the possession of the Daily News showed that Zanu PF bigwigs including former Public Service minister Nicholas Goche, Bindura South Member of Parliament Remigious Matangira, former first lady Grace Mugabe’s sister Rose Chidhakwa, former Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi and former Mbare MP Tendai Savanhu owe their employees tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages and allowances.
A number of politicians were also hauled before the courts last year over their failure to service electricity debts and are either negotiating flexible payment arrangements with power utility, Zesa Holdings, or pleading their cases in court.
Among the bigwigs are Sekeramayi who owes $327 481 for his Ulva Farm; Savanhu ($19 000 for his Eagle Estate Farm in Marondera); Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba ($43 716 for Wakatai Plot in Concession) and former Mashonaland East Provincial minister Ambrose Mutinhiri who owes $54 000 for his Newton Farm.
In 2017, 43 head of cattle belonging to then Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry secretary Ngoni Masoka went under the hammer to pay off a debt he owed
to the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Development Company (ZFDC).
During the same year, Zanu PF activist Stanley Kasukuwere’s three tractors and other farming equipment were also auctioned over a debt with Windmill (Private) Limited. Daily News
