THE Zimbabwe Catholics Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church-owned company, Stella Mundi, had their application for declaratur seeking stay of execution of an order to pay a local company of about US$188 000 dismissed by the High Court.
Stella Mundi, the applicant, is an agricultural company set up by the Catholic Church to run specific projects on church farms.
They had cited Murimi Two Four Seven (Pvt) Ltd and The Sheriff for Zimbabwe as the respondents.
They had approached the court on an urgent basis seeking for a declaratur to stay of execution of an original order granted by the High Court ordering it to pay Murimi Two Four Seven US$187 954,42 in five instalments by December 31 this year.
The order also stated that the applicant alternatively can pay ZiG2 588 439 before August 15 this year.
However, on August 21, Murimi Two Four Seven through the Sheriff issued a notice for seizure and attachment of Stella Mundi property after it failed to pay.
Murimi Two Four Seven opposed the application for declaratur saying Stella Mundi improperly sought to avoid, reverse and substitute an extant order of court under the guise of a declaratur.
They argued that there was no basis for such an order and the parties were bound by the original order whose legal effect counsel submitted was sacrosanct.
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According to the court documents Murimi Two Four Seven is an agro-technology entity offering among other services, the hiring out of farm equipment and general agricultural advisory services.
On June 1, 2022, Murimi Two Four Seven was engaged by Stella Mundi to provide land clearance, trenching, tilling, reaping, ploughing, disking, planting, “viconing”, booming and trailer works at Driefontein Mission Farm in Mvuma.
The parties had a disagreement along the way, resulting in Murimi Two Four Seven instituting proceedings under HCHC 321/24 claiming an amount of US$242 682,70.
The matter was settled in terms of the original consent order with the capital sum reduced to US$187 754,42.
However, Stella Mundi breached the terms of the court order and it failed to remit the very first instalment that fell due on July 31, responded by issuing out a writ which Murimi Two Four Seven duly executed by attaching Stella Mundi’s vehicles and movables.
Removal of the goods was scheduled for August 15, but Stella Mundi attempted to forestall same by effecting payments totalling ZiG2 588 439 into Murimi Two Four Seven’s bank account.
Stella Mundi admitted that this direct payment into applicant’s bank account and in ZiG rather than US dollars constituted a departure from, but not breach of, the terms of the order.
Murimi argued that justice requires that they should not suffer by reason of a devaluation in the value of currency between the due date on which Stella Mundi should have met their obligation and the date of actual payment or the date of enforcement of the judgment.
High Court judge Justice Joseph Chilimbe in analysing the matter said the argument that the ZiG stands as the “sole legal tender” to be used exclusively as the local currency cannot sustain.
“The judgment debt was born out a contract being the deed of settlement. Under that pact, the parties agreed that the obligation would be met in US dollars.
“To conclude on this aspect, the concept of ‘legal tender’, in its ordinary signification, denotes money or currency in official circulation that must be accepted if offered in payment of a debt. In the realm of contractual relations, what this means is that the debtor is entitled to settle his debt through the medium of legal tender and, conversely, the creditor is obliged to accept that tender,” the judge ruled.
“The application cannot succeed. There were insufficient facts placed before me to conclude that the criticisms extended beyond mere differences of opinion or style.”
Justice Chilimbe dismissed the application by Stella Mundi with costs.
