Stokvel fallout leaves woman in US$58,873 debt 

What began as a relationship built on trust within a community savings club has ended in a costly legal battle, with the High Court of Zimbabwe ordering a Bulawayo woman to pay US$58,873 to a former friend after a dispute over loans advanced through a stokvel arrangement.

Justice Mpokiseng Dube, sitting at the Bulawayo High Court, ruled that Sazini Phiri was legally bound by an acknowledgement of debt she signed in favour of Sizakele Nzima, rejecting claims that the document was executed under duress following threats linked to “ancestral money” and witchcraft.

“This is a claim for payment in the sum of US$58 873.00 based on an acknowledgement of debt,” Justice Dube said in her judgment, adding that the defendant’s attempt to avoid liability rested on allegations the court found unconvincing.

The court heard that Nzima and Phiri were friends from the same rural area and active members of a community savings scheme, commonly known as a stokvel. Their financial relationship deepened as Phiri sought capital to support her restaurant, flea market stalls and cross-border trading ventures.

According to the judgment, Phiri “would routinely borrow cash to go and buy stocks in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa,” and at times also borrowed money to pay rent, staff salaries and food supplies. The funds were advanced “in dribs and drabs that were not recorded based on mutual trust,” a practice that later proved fatal to the friendship.

The dispute escalated when the accumulated loans were formalised into a written acknowledgement of debt amounting to US$58,873. Phiri admitted signing the document but claimed she had only borrowed about US$10,000 and that the figure had ballooned due to illegal weekly interest.

She further alleged that she signed the document at her creditor’s lawyers’ offices after being threatened with the death of her daughter and her husband’s mental breakdown, saying the money involved was “ancestral.”

The court was not persuaded.

“These are hallmarks of an adult of full legal capacity, who in her sound and sober mind elected to bind herself,” Justice Dube said. “The threats of sorcery and other such matters related to the unknown realm of black magic are just but a ruse if not a red herring.”

Phiri’s husband, Sylvester, testified that he attempted to intervene when he discovered the debt, claiming interest was being charged at 25 percent per week and that he was forcibly removed from the lawyers’ offices for objecting to the agreement. The court dismissed his role, ruling that his presence was neither required nor legally relevant.

“Our law does not require her to consult nor seek authority from her husband before executing a contract,” Justice Dube said. “She is a business lady in her own right.”

In reaffirming the enforceability of the debt, the court relied on settled legal principles that contracts freely entered into cannot be undone simply because they later appear harsh.

“Contracts are sacrosanct unless evidence shows that they were not entered into freely and voluntarily,” the judge said.

The court ruled that acknowledgements of debt are “clear, unequivocal and unambiguous” liquid documents unless duress is proven, which Phiri failed to do.

Justice Dube ordered Phiri to pay the full US$58,873 or its Zimbabwe dollar equivalent at the prevailing interbank rate, plus interest at five percent from the date summons were issued. She was also ordered to pay legal costs on an attorney-and-client scale.