adminLeonard Ncube Court Reporter
CREDIT stores and money lending institutions in Bulawayo are taking the cheer out of this year’s Christmas after garnishing scores of their clients who are defaulting on their accounts.The Civil Court has already sent scores of debtors to imprisonment of between 30 and 60 days for failing to service accounts after taking property on credit or borrowing money from different money lenders.
Workers from different companies, who are already finding it difficult to provide for their families because of delayed pay, should brace for tougher times.
Prominent shops such as TN Harlequin Luxaire, Coloursel — both furniture shops offering hire purchase services — and Edgars, a chain store selling clothes on credit, have sought legal recourse to recover their money. Microfinance lending businesses such as Quick Cash, Micro-king and Homelink have also joined the bandwagon.
In the past two months, TN Harlequin took 25 of its clients to the Civil Court housed at Tredgold Building in Bulawayo over the outstanding money.
A majority of the clients have been garnished after the shop was granted orders authorising it to get its money through stop orders from respective employers.
Some orders were granted as default judgments as debtors reportedly do not take seriously summons sent to them to appear in court for owing shops.
Bongani Ndlovu of Magwegwe North, who is a director of Fieldshares Enterprises in the city, was garnished $100 per month over a $2,029.50 debt he woes TN Harlequin.
Ndlovu bought some furniture from the shop in August last year and failed to service his monthly installments resulting in the debt accumulating to $1,266.
He was supposed to pay with an interest of 15 percent per month resulting in the figure rising to $2,029. Debtors, however, feel the shops and money lending businesses are charging exorbitant interest rates resulting in them failing to pay.
Most of these debtors would now have to pay the money through court orders. Two other clients of TN Harlequin, Godfrey Haruzivishe and Bothwell Ndoro, who are employed by Nyaradzo Funeral Services, will also lose $100 every month after being garnished for failing to pay their accounts.
The two owe in excess of $6,000 in arrears each. Bekithemba Ncube, who is employed by Zesa, was also garnished $100 by the same shop over arrears amounting to $2,678 while a woman from Nketa 8, Mollen Ngwarati will lose the same amount of money for owing $3,461.
There are several others whose cases have been postponed to later dates while some were removed from the roll for different reasons.
A number of people were also dragged to court for failing to pay accounts with Coloursel.
Edgars chain stores dragged 11 people in October and 12 people in November to court seeking civil imprisonment. Anne Mbazo of Mpopoma was jailed for 60 days last week for failing to pay $411.60.
This was after she bought clothes on credit in August last year but has failed to service her account. Homelink has also been making applications for civil imprisonment of defaulting clients.
Quick Cash, which is in the business of offering credit loans, has instituted legal proceedings against 17 of its clients in the past two months.
Some of the debtors have either been sent to jail or ordered to pay different amounts of money they owe the money lending business.
About 17 more were dragged to the same court during the same period by Micro-king Finance for failing to pay arrears.
Sibongile Msipa presided over the cases.
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