HARARE - Music promoter Josh Hozheri has vowed to fight for his auctioned home.
Hozheri says he will try to reverse the sale of his home in the northern suburb of Bluffhill, Harare.
His house was foreclosed over unpaid interests on a $77 000 bank loan last week.
Hozheri, a pub owner who also runs open air entertainment joint Ice and Fire Pamuzinda along Bulawayo Road, is engaged in a tough battle to save the house that he has lived in for years.
The music promoter, who was also forced to close Jazz 105 night club in Harare’s CBD earlier this year, fell behind on the Central African Building Society (CABS) bank loan on the
home prompting the lender to seize Hozheri’s home through foreclosure.
The house went under the hammer at Ruby Auctions last week.
“I just heard my house was auctioned to one lucky guy at a low price. I valued it at not less than $200 000,” a distraught Hozheri told the Daily News.
“In fact I am the owner of that house and I am prepared to face the said new owner if he or she comes to occupy the place.”
Despite Hozheri’s protests, a Harare magistrate ruled that the popular music promoter had been given ample notice before his house was auctioned off.
Hozheri recalls trying to work out some kind of payment plan for his debt.
But the grim reality of the situation set in when the property went under the hammer.
“Of course in life we are bound to face some challenges here and there, but I am failing to understand what is really happening,” Hozheri said.
“I borrowed cash from the bank five years ago for building purposes and I was consistent in settling my debt, since then until I was left with only $3 500.
“Then I defaulted for three months in settling the debt and this made the figure soar to about $6 500 because of some interest charges.”
After Hozheri failed to pitch up in court, CABS was awarded a default judgment.
But Hozheri claimed in the interview with the Daily News that he never received any form of notification from the bank about the development.
“I never received anything in terms of letters and notices from the bank only to hear that my house was sold,” Hozheri said.
“I am failing to understand the politics behind the issue.
“I am just waiting for the new buyer to come for the house.”
Asked if he had hit hard times considering his earlier closure of Jazz 105 night club, he claimed his landlord unduly inflated rentals, forcing him out.
“That decision to close Jazz 105 was a purely business decision.
“We are into business to make money and if the situation is not permitting, then we opt out,” he said.
He said he is currently concentrating on his Featherstone farm, Ice and Fire Pamuzinda, and several of his butcheries dotted around the capital.
“Since the news of my bankruptcy, my mobile phone has been swarmed with calls and messages from concerned people, but I decided to keep quiet because I am a grown man,” he said.
“Like any other Zimbabwean, I was also affected by the harsh economic state of affairs dogging the country, but I am okay as I have a number of projects that include butcheries and a farm.
“At least I am managing to put food on my table.
“But, people should know that I am not at war with anyone, I do not expect people to fight me or celebrate my demise.”