Defunct Fly Africa Zimbabwe in court again over debt

Defunct Fly Africa Zimbabwe (FZW, Harare Int’l) and its directors are being sued again in the Harare High Court, this time over debts of USD300,000 dating back to 2017 owing to the Sykes Bond Holding Company, The Daily News has reported citing court documents. Nu-Aero (Pvt) Ltd. t/a Fly Africa Zimbabwe and its directors, Cassidy Mugwagwa and Mejias Munyaradzi, are the respondents in the case which is pending. This follows after the company and Mugwagwa were sued by Mauritian company, Blossom View Holdings, last year for failing to settle a USD4 million loan facility. According to papers before the Harare High Court, Sykes is considering reinstating an application for the liquidation of Fly Africa Zimbabwe, which in court papers has acknowledged owing USD881,220 to Sykes. The bondholder in 2017 issued debentures to raise USD300,000 in capital for Fly Africa Zimbabwe. “The debenture subscription agreement resulted in the plaintiff (Sykes) becoming a creditor of the defendant (Fly Africa Zimbabwe) with an entitlement to interest on debentures at a rate of 8% per annum exclusive of charges and calculated on the basis of a 360-day year, compounded monthly,” according to Sykes’ legal counsel. When Sykes instituted proceedings for the winding up of Fly Africa Zimbabwe on account of its failure to repay debts, the airline repaid ZWD1 million (USD2,763) in June 2020. Meanwhile, the debentures continued to accrue interest on Fly Africa Zimbabwe’s account. Fly Africa Zimbabwe was a low-cost carrier based at Harare Int’l. It flew domestic and regional routes using two B737-500s, the ch-aviation fleets history module reveals. The carrier suspended operations in October 2015 after the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) revoked its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). In 2017, the company was acquired by Mugwagwa Holdings and was reportedly undergoing recertification, but a planned relaunch in 2018 did not materialise.