HARARE – Prominent Harare preacher Prophet Magaya is US$23 million in debt, according to a claim filed with the Harare High Court.
Homelink Finance (Private) Limited, a company owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, says Magaya and his wife, Tendai, sought the loan sometime last year through their company Yadah Connect (Private) Limited.
Homelink, through its lawyers Shomwe-Nyakuedzwa Attorneys, says Magaya has breached an agreement requiring him to repay the loan at a monthly rate of US$784,873.62 for 33 months, starting on January 1 this year.
Homelink wants an order requiring Magaya, his wife and Yadah Connect to pay the debt.
The couple, who bound themselves to the loan as surety, face the possibility of losing several properties they put up in support of the huge loan, including a guest house in Waterfalls, Harare, which sits on 7.9 hectares of prime, urban land.
The couple also put up mining machinery and vehicles to support the loan application.
The couple’s church, PHD Ministries, is currently being tried at the Harare Magistrates Courts accused of failing to pay tax on revenues of U$28 million between 2013 and 2018.
The church disputes the claim, and directors have disowned documents tendered by ZIMRA purportedly showing what the church earned over the years.
Magaya claimed last year that he had found an AIDS/HIV cure, working with Indian partners. He was blocked from selling the Aguma herb after health authorities said the purported cure had not gone through any clinical trials.
Magaya was fined $700 for breaches of the Medicines Control Act which bars the advertising or marketing of an unlicenced drug.
Magaya also faces a criminal trial for allegedly raping a congregant. The congregant is now believed to be in Germany, and has tendered an affidavit with the court saying she does not wish to pursue the matter. She said she lied to the police.
