adminHarare magistrates’ civil court. Advocate Thabani Mpofu who is leading the PM’s team of lawyers on Friday sought postponement of the matter citing commitments at the higher court.
Magistrate Mr Reuben Mukavhi deferred the hearing to September 27.
Karimatsenga wants the PM to contribute towards her upkeep and accessories, as she has been accustomed to. The application was filed a week before the premier’s customary marriage ceremony with Ms Elizabeth Macheka on September 15. In her claim, Ms Karimatsenga says she is customarily married to PM Tsvangirai after the latter paid lobola to her parents.
The marriage took place in November last year. Ms Karimatsenga said after the PM paid lobola, he requested permission for her to stay with him, which was granted.
He also requested for permission to have a white wedding, which was also granted, said Ms Karimatsenga. In terms of the African custom, Ms Karimatsenga claimed, she was sent to PM Tsvangirai’s village in Buhera where she stayed with his mother for about two months.
PM Tsvangirai, she claimed, later requested her to rejoin him in Harare after he had found accommodation. Ms Karimatsenga later had a miscarriage at seven months of pregnancy and she went for medication in South Africa.
The PM, according to Ms Karimatsenga, paid all the medical bills. Ms Karimatsenga said after being discharged from hospital, she never saw PM Tsvangirai up to now.
Ms Karimatsenga further claimed that when she recovered, she returned home only to find that the matrimonial home they were leasing was locked up and all the furniture had been removed. The PM recently lost a bid to tie the knot with Ms Macheka after Harare provincial magistrate Mr Munamato Mutevedzi cancelled a marriage licence he had issued to the couple on August 27. In that ruling, Mr Mutevedzi found that the PM indeed married Ms Karimatsenga in November last year well before he engaged Ms Macheka. PM Tsvangirai’s lawyers filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court a few hours later seeking the suspension of the magistrate’s ruling.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu threw out the urgent chamber application in the early hours of last Saturday prompting the PM to abandon the intended wedding under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act. He then conducted a traditional marriage ceremony with Ms Macheka at Raintree Lodge in Harare.
Online Reporter