The Sunday Mail
Africa Moyo
Ordinary Allied Bank Limited creditors, deeply aggrieved by their loss of savings in the now defunct bank, locked horns with the Assistant Master at the High Court, Ms Stella Chapwanya, over the use of the English language during the final creditors meeting at the Harare Polytechnic.
Young, old, frail and frustrated creditors traversed the length and breadth of the country to attend the critical meeting where everyone that had not filed claims in the previous meetings had to be personally present or send a proxy for the claim to be “provisionally accepted”.
Various amounts from $59 to $193 000 were called out in some of the claims, and representatives, brazenly indicating the composition of the defunct bank’s creditors.
Several races and tribes were present at the meeting with the hope of getting first hand information on the future of their savings.
While it appeared logical at face value to use English in the meeting, disillusioned elderly creditors from remote parts of the country were clearly not at home with any exotic language as it affected their comprehension of deliberations.
Not surprisingly, an elderly creditor rose on a “point of order” when it became apparent that the trio of Mr John Chikura (the Deposit Protection Corporation chief executive officer and Allied liquidator), Dr Cecil Madondo (Allied liquidating agent) and Ms Chapwanya, who were fielding questions, were only going to speak in English.
This sparked a fierce battle of languages.
“I have risen to tell you that when you are discussing important matters as these, it is important that you use all languages that everyone can understand. As it stands, I can’t even ask a question because I don’t understand the language you are using,” said the creditor.
But thinking that she was on top of the situation after claiming that “the law does not allow us to speak in any other language apart from English”, Ms Chapwanya got a rude awakening.
“If indeed you were born by a person, you should know what I am talking about.
‘‘It does not make sense for me travel all the way to attend a meeting and leave without understanding anything. This is my money that we are talking about,” said the senior citizen referring to Ms Chapwanya.
Stung by the persistence of the senior citizen, and the palpable tense situation punctuated by murmurs from the bulk of creditors, Ms Chapwanya then said: “If you wanted the meeting to be held in the vernacular, you should have said that in advance. We have many interpreters at our offices that could have helped us.
“The requirement is that these meeting should be held in English only. As I sit here, I can speak ChiShona but I can’t speak (isi)Ndebele and there are others who cannot understand ChiShona.”
A flurry of hands then went up as more creditors sought to express their displeasure at Ms Chapwanya’s response.
A visibly angry woman then said: “To have lost money (in the bank) is bad enough but we do not blame you. We have come from far-away places to know the fate of our money so you should have found a translator.
“It is extremely unfortunate that people cannot air their views because of a language barrier.
‘‘I think in future, the Master of the High Court should come and address such meetings.”
With her tail tucked between her legs, Ms Chapwanya then caved in and promised to compile a report and inform her superiors so that vernacular languages could be used in future meetings.
Meanwhile, creditors pressed the duo of Dr Madondo and Mr Chikura to find out if they will get all their money, while directors of the bank would be arrested for deliberately running down the institution.
Allied Bank’s operating licence was cancelled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on January 8, 2015 after it became clear the financial institution was grossly under capitalised and faced chronic liquidity challenges.
Dr Madondo told creditors not to “expect to recover all funds” trapped in the closed bank.
“Creditors may not recover everything from liquidation. We have done everything to recover the assets (and) it will be resolved in court. We are ready to go to court,” said Dr Madondo.
The law says liquidation costs are paid first then the residue is distributed to secured creditors, preferent creditors and the balance is lastly paid to the concurrent creditors (unsecured), on a pro-rata basis.
Investopedia defines secured creditors as lenders that take collateral for the extension of credit, loan or bond issuance.
In the arena of personal finance, the most well-known secured creditors are mortgage lenders whose loans are secured either by a first or second lien on a property.
Mr Chikura also told the restless depositors that he is “determined to ensure that those (Allied Bank) assets come for the benefit of creditors”.
“They (assets) were pledged by the shareholders. That is why we are going to court as Dr Madondo said.
‘‘We will institute proceedings against directors if they are found to have abused depositors’ funds. Work is in progress right now to finalise an audit report and we will ensure they are arrested (if found to have led to the bank’s closure). We will definitely go to shareholders,” said Mr Chikura.
Mr Chikura said while people “caught with pangolins are jailed for nine years”, the same cannot be said for bank bosses “loot millions and get away with it”.
“We will do everything in our power to address what the President said are ‘thieves in suits’,” he said.
The liquidator’s interim report says the bank closed due to several factors including a negative core capital, illiquid toxic assets, management shortcomings, gross under-capitalisation, persistent losses, abuse of depositors’ funds, high volume of non-performing loans and bad corporate governance.
When the High Court approved the bank’s liquidation in February last year, its assets were recorded at $25,8 million while liabilities stood at $34,4 million.
In the first two creditors’ meetings, claims amounting to $15,7 million were provisionally accepted by the Master of the High Court, with 15 claims valued at $356 196 30 being rejected for non-appearance of the creditors.
According to claims read out during last Thursday and the previous creditors’ meetings, ministries, parastatals and municipalities, rural district councils, clinics, schools, Old Peoples’ homes and private individuals, are owed by the bank.
Municipalities owed include Bulawayo City Council ($495 000); City of Gweru ($5 000); NRZ Pension Fund ($25 000) while parastatals are TelOne ($2 000); National Social Security Authority ($807 000) and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ($1,2 million). Blanket Mine Medical Aid Society is owed $193 836.
