This follows a
High Court ruling against the institution in a crushing summary judgment in a
case involving over US$300,000 in unpaid loans.
The ruling
grants BancABC full summary judgment, ordering immediate payment of
US$303,258.14 and ZWG2,715.56, plus interest, and declares the school’s
immovable and movable properties – including land in Inyanga and Umtali,
science lab equipment, and a centre-pivot sprinkler system – executable.
Despite
initially repaying portions of the debt in US dollars, the school later
defaulted, offering excuses, including an armed robbery in July 2023, which it
claimed hindered its ability to pay.
Justice Faith
Mushure declared the defences put forward by the school’s owners as
“implausible, insincere and disingenuous,” and emblematic of a culture of debt
avoidance that “does not bode well for business and investment in this
country.”
The judgment,
handed down last week, lays bare the unravelling of an institution that
promised academic excellence but buckled under financial mismanagement and
alleged attempts to sidestep repayment obligations to BancABC.
“Some people
simply will not settle a debt,” Justice Mushure wrote, quoting a prior ruling.
“No matter how
many times the creditor runs around the walls of Jericho the walls remain
unshakeable.
“It is just in
their nature that they incur a debt which they have no intention whatsoever of
paying back.”
The court found
that Knowstics Academy, operated by Willedit Investments (Pvt) Ltd under
directors William and Edith Mukuwapasi, had entered into two loan agreements
with BancABC – one for US$467,500 in 2022 and another for ZWG11 million in 2019
– both secured against the school’s properties and equipment, including
laboratory apparatus and irrigation systems.
The defendants
then argued the debt should be repaid in local currency, not United States
dollars, because the bank had disbursed the funds in Zimbabwean dollars.
But the court
firmly rejected this reasoning, pointing to signed agreements and a May 2025
letter from the school’s CEO acknowledging the debt in United States dollars
and even requesting further restructuring.
“The defendants
cannot argue that the plaintiff is seeking to be unjustly enriched,” Justice
Mushure ruled, “in circumstances where the first defendant entered into the
loan agreement with its eyes fully open.
“Only when the
first defendant started facing challenges in repaying the loan, did the
defendants start questioning the terms of the agreement.” Once a symbol of
prestige, the school now serves as a case study in financial overreach and
contractual accountability.
“It would be
remiss to refuse summary judgment,” the judge concluded, “where there are no
real issues for the trial court to decide on simply because a defendant
considers… that it wants a day in court.”
No comment was
immediately available from the Mukuwapasis or their legal representatives as
the educational empire they built now teeters on the edge of collapse, H Metro
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