Businesswoman Fights Against Loan Shark’s Mnangagwa-Name Extortion Scheme
By Judith Nyuke
A Harare businesswoman has sought legal intervention from the Norton Magistrates Court to protect herself from alleged harassment and intimidation by a loan shark.
Fungai Golowa claims these acts are linked to a loan she acquired last year.
Through her lawyer Scott Panashe Mamimine, Golowa filed an application last Friday, claiming that Leeroy Martin Honde, forced her to pay a staggering US$59,650 in interest under the threat of harm from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close security detail.
Golowa claims that since obtaining a US$13,000 loan from Honde on December 14, 2023, he has capitalized the interest surpassing the original loan amount, and charged a 40% interest rate on the outstanding balance with each payment.
She described feeling immense pressure and fear, as Honde ominously implied that the money belonged to a powerful individual in the President’s Office whenever she hesitated to make a payment.
Honde’s tactics of daily trips from Norton to Harare for payment collection and sexual advances toward Golowa, coupled with his increasingly threatening behavior, prompted her to seek legal counsel on October 20, 2024, who subsequently informed Honde of her decision to halt all further payments. In her Founding Affidavit, Golowa said,
“The application before this Court is an application for binding over in
terms of section 388 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [9:07]against the Respondent who is conducting himself violently towards my
peace and threatens the smooth flow of my business operations….
“….All this had a chilling effect on me to even ponder stopping payments. My situation got even worse with the respondent to the extent that he even made sexual advances, which I complained to the respondent as can be shown in the WhatsApp text messages.
“My situation has become unbearable. Honde’s demands and behavior have left me terrified that he may collude with rogue security personnel to harm me or my business,” she added.
Golowa is requesting a court order prohibiting Honde from contacting her or her employees and maintaining a distance of at least 50 meters from her business and residence in Braeside, Harare.
The matter is currently pending before the court.
