Church leader sued $82k for pedestrian knockdown

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A GWERU widow has filed a $82,000 lawsuit against the president of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFM), Aspher Madziyire for reckless driving which resulted in him fatally knocking down her husband.

Melody Mudzingwa, through her lawyers Mutendi and Shumba Legal Practitioners, yesterday filed summons at the Bulawayo High Court citing Madziyire as the defendant.

In the court papers, Mudzingwa who is the plaintiff said Madziyire caused the death of her husband, Lytton Cytton Mangena, through negligence and driving at an excessive speed.

The accident occurred last year on April 1 along the Bulawayo-Gweru road.

“On April 1, 2014, my husband was involved in an accident along the Bulawayo-Gweru road when the defendant negligently knocked him down. The accident was solely due to excessive speed, failure to be on proper lookout for other road users and failing to reduce speed,” said Mudzingwa.

Mangena sustained serious injuries and died on the same day.

He was buried at his rural home in Mberengwa.

Mudzingwa said Madziyire only bought a coffin and a beast while she spent $3,000 on other funeral expenses.

Mudzingwa said she and her one-year-old daughter were entitled to claim damages for the loss of financial support.

“I wasn’t employed at the time of my husband’s death and I entirely depended on his income for survival. As a result of his death my daughter and I suffered actual pecuniary loss in the form of a loss of support since Mangena was the sole breadwinner in the family,” said Mudzingwa in her summons.

“The current socio-economic environment in the country has seen the closure of most industries leaving most prospective workers who’re employed informally working up to the age of 70. My husband died at the age 20 which effectively means that we’ve lost the expected 50 years of support due to his death.”

Mudzingwa seeks an order that compels Madziyire to pay her a total of $82,016 compensation for loss of support.

Madziyire has up to 10 days to respond.