Tobacco farmer duped by middleman

 

Lovemore Kadzura
Rusape Correspondent

A Nyamajura-based illegal tobacco merchant was dragged to a community court over his failure to pay for the golden leaf he took from a fellow villager in 2015.

Lizzy Mangara sued Jacob Nyamugure for failure to pay her a balance of US$800 for the 420kgs of tobacco he collected from her.

Mangara told Chief Makoni’s court that efforts to recover her dues from Nyamugure have been fruitless for the past eight years.

“In 2015, Nyamugure came to me and stated that he was a merchant who was buying tobacco from farmers. He collected 420kgs from me and made a part payment and remained with US$800 balance.

“Efforts to make him pay the balance were in vain and I reported him to the local Headman who ordered him to pay up, with US$200 interest.

“Despite the headman’s order, Nyamugure has been evasive up to now. Whenever I visit his homestead to follow-up on my money, he becomes abusive and threatens to axe me.

“I tried to ask him to pay my dues in the form of livestock, but he claims that all the cattle and goats at his homestead belong to his wife,” said Mangara.

Nyamugure did not deny owing Mangara, but claimed that her husband was also part of the deal which went up in smoke after TIMB confiscated the tobacco.

“We had a joint venture with Mangara’s husband where we would buy tobacco from farmers and resell it at the auction floors. We succeeded on the first transaction, but TIMB confiscated our tobacco when we attempted to do it for the second time,” Nyamugure said.

Despite his defence, the court ruled that Nyamugure should pay Mangara US$800 within a week.
However, the court turned down Mangara’s request for some interest on the amount, stating that her hands are also dirty since her transaction with Nyamugure was illegal.

“Nyamugure is trying to hide behind a finger by implicating Mangara’s husband. It is you who collected the tobacco from this woman, not her husband. You have to pay Mangara within a week.

“However, Mangara you approached thise court with dirty hands because you committed an offence by dealing with an unregistered middleman, so we cannot award an interest on the principal debt.

“Government is always discouraging farmers from dealing with middlemen. These are the effects,” ruled the court.