The Sunday News
A GWANDA councillor has been dragged to court after he duped a prospective homeseeker of $1 000 in a housing stand deal. Gwanda Urban councillor Thulani Moyo who is also the chairman of Housing and Community Services committee, in an application to Gwanda Civil Court, agreed to repay Obedingwa Pindi Moyo in the form of a draft order, arguing that he cannot pay the said money in full at once.
Magistrate Ms Sheila Nazombe last week ruled in favour of Clr Moyo ordering him to pay monthly instalments of $200 until he finished without any order to costs as stated by Pindi in his claim.
The allegations, as stated by Mr Moyo were that Clr Moyo sold a stand to him on agreement that he will pay a deposit of
$1 000 and then pay the balance in instalments until he finished. Mr Moyo claimed that he later realised that the same stand he was paying had been sold to another person. He approached Clr Moyo demanding that he be paid back his deposit money.
Mr Moyo stated that the councillor had neglectfully failed to pay resulting in him approaching the court.
However, Clr Moyo in his affidavit said he had not intended to neglect the debt he had to Mr Moyo and that he had not duped him but was finding it difficult to pay it in full due to the liquidity crisis that has hit the banking sector.
“I had entered into a verbal agreement with Pindi when I sold a stand to him and he paid a deposit of $1 000 in which the balance was to be paid in instalments until it is finished. When Pindi breached the contract, I couldn’t repay his money at once. I had then found another buyer for the said stand. The agreement with the new buyer also failed because he could not pay,”’ stated Clr Moyo.
