‘I am just a barber, Your Worship’

A CROSS-BORDER trader’s bid to get maintenance from her ex-husband hit a brick wall last week after the man pleaded with the magistrate that he could not pay maintenance because he was just a barber who is struggling to take care of himself.

Appearing before Mutare magistrate Mr Langton Mukwengi, Hilda Mutambara was claiming $150 from Loverage Dzawo, arguing that Dzawo was a policeman who was neglecting his two children.

“Dzawo is a policeman and inasfar as maintenance is concerned, he is more than able to part with $150 every month. I am a cross-border trader and I can take care of the children only to a certain extent. For him to walk scot free on  the streets of Harare while I break my back working for the two children we had together is just unfair,” said Mutambara.

Dzawo on the other hand vehemently dismissed claims that he was a policeman.

Instead he said he was just a barber and could not pay maintenance at the moment because business was very low.

Said Dzawo as he defended himself: “I am not a policeman and I cannot pay maintenance at the moment because business is very low. She thinks I am a policeman, but I am not. When she once visited me in Harare, akandiwana ndichigera maboss paCentral (she found me cutting senior police officers’ hair at Harare Central Police Station) and since then, she assumed that I am a policeman, Your Worship.”

Mr Mukwengi went on to ask Mutambara why she thought that her ex-husband was a policeman and in response, she said she had once seen him with a pair of handcuffs hence her conclusion that Dzawo was a policeman.

“I have no proof at hand that he is a policeman but vakambouya kumba vaine cheni muhomwe and who else can move around with handcuffs save for a policeman? Dzawo is a policeman and he should pay maintenance for his two children,” she said.

When he was asked how much he was willing to pay, Dzawo settled for $25 for the two children, but Mr Mukwengi said he should pay $35 instead.

Said Mr Mukwengi: “Madam, because your ex-husband is not earning much at the moment, he is going to pay $35 as maintenance for the two children, every month with effect from July 31. You should continue with your cross-border business so that you meet each other half way to take care of your children.”