via RadioVop Zimbabwe – Gono Trapped In Chicken Wars by Professor Matodzi October 23, 2013

A business enterprise owned by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono has been hauled to court by a leading poultry producer after the company allegedly defaulted on paying for a consignment of poultry products.

Court papers seen by Radio VOP show that Crest Poultry Group trading as Crest Breeders International resorted to taking legal action in the High Court against Lunar Chickens, which is owned by Gono after the poultry retailer reportedly failed to pay $17 747 for a consignment of poultry products supplied on credit.

Crest Breeders and Lunar Chickens had agreed as terms of the credit facility agreement that the purchase price would be payable within 21 days of delivery of each consignment. However, the payment period has since elapsed with Lunar Chickens failing to meet its obligation.

The poultry producers through their lawyers Dzoro and Partners Legal Practitioners charged that they had made numerous demands on Lunar Chickens to settle the amount owing but to no avail.

Besides recovering $17 747, Crest Breeders is also demanding interest from the debt. Radio VOP could not confirm if Gono’s enterprise is opposing the summons filed in the High Court this month.

Gono claims to have started rearing chickens in 1973 and is the country’s third largest integrated chicken company in Zimbabwe with aspirations to list his poultry business on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

Besides having business interests in the poultry sector, Gono is also heavily invested in a number of sectors of the Zimbabwean economy including agriculture, beef, agro-processing, construction, horticulture, publishing, brickmaking and real estate.