Online Reporter
H-Metro Reporter
KNOWSTICS Academy, once a beacon of elite private education in this country, faces an uncertain future with its properties going under the hammer at an auction in Harare on Friday.
The school has been battling financial ruin and asset seizure for some time now.
This follows a High Court ruling against the institution in a crushing summary judgment in a case involving over US$300,000 in unpaid loans.
The ruling granted BancABC full summary judgment, ordering immediate payment of US$303,258.14 and ZWG2,715.56, plus interest, and declared the school’s immovable and movable properties – including land in Inyanga and Mutare, science lab equipment, and a centre-pivot sprinkler system – executable.
Those properties will go under the hammer at Raylton Sports Club in Harare on Friday.
The auction will be conducted by Graham & Douglas Real Estate.
According to the notice, the sale of the property stems from a case between “African Banking Corporation of Zimbabwe Limited and Willedit Investments (pvt) Ltd, trading as Knowstics Academy and two others.”
A “certain piece of land situated in the district of Inyanga called Lot 1 of Plot 29 of Nyamazi, also known as Plot 29, Bonda, Nyanga,” will be up for sale.”
Despite initially repaying portions of the debt in US dollars, the school later defaulted, offering excuses, including an armed robbery in July 2023, which it claimed hindered its ability to pay.
Justice Faith Mushure declared the defences put forward by the school’s owners as “implausible, insincere and disingenuous,” and emblematic of a culture of debt avoidance that “does not bode well for business and investment in this country.”
The judgment laid bare the unravelling of an institution that promised academic excellence but buckled under financial mismanagement and alleged attempts to sidestep repayment obligations to BancABC.
“Some people simply will not settle a debt,” Justice Mushure wrote, quoting a prior ruling.
“No matter how many times the creditor runs around the walls of Jericho the walls remain unshakeable.
“It is just in their nature that they incur a debt which they have no intention whatsoever of paying back.”
The court found that Knowstics Academy, operated by Willedit Investments (Pvt) Ltd under directors William and Edith Mukuwapasi, had entered into two loan agreements with BancABC – one for US$467,500 in 2022 and another for ZWG11 million in 2019 – both secured against the school’s properties and equipment, including laboratory apparatus and irrigation systems.
The defendants then argued the debt should be repaid in local currency, not United States dollars, because the bank had disbursed the funds in Zimbabwean dollars.
But the court firmly rejected this reasoning, pointing to signed agreements and a May 2025 letter from the school’s CEO acknowledging the debt in United States dollars and even requesting further restructuring.
Mathew Masinge