TOURISM Minister Walter Mzembi and his wife Barbara Mercedes have been ordered by a judge to pay the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) US$130,000 after defaulting on a loan.
Mzembi and his wife provided surety in the form of a residential stand and put themselves down as co-principal debtors with their company, Rob Cobban Investments, which applied for the loan.
Justice Ben Hlatshwaya of the Harare High Court delivered a default judgement this week after the minister and his company failed to defend POSB’s lawsuit.
In court papers, the POSB said it extended the minister, his wife and their company a US$100,000 loan in April 2010 which was to be repaid in full by October 2010 at a rate of 20 percent per annum.
The bank said the minister, his wife and his company neglected to repay the loan.
Justice Hlatshwayo’s judgement said in part: “Rob Cobban Investments, Walter Mzembi and Barbara Mercedes Mzembi shall jointly and severally, the one paying the others to be absolved, pay POSB the sum of US$129 221,10.”
The debt is now accruing interest at 30 percent per annum as from October 2011, the judge added.
The minister was served with summons in November last year, but did not challenge POSB's claim.