Online Reporter
Spiwe Sarakunze
Herald Reporter
A HARARE woman has been granted a protection order against her in-law, who has been demanding part of the money she gets as rent as payment for her child’s lobola.
Ticharasa Mukotaringa told Harare Civil Court magistrate, Ms Johanna Mukwesha, that her in-law, Victoria Cauden has been harassing her by demanding money from her rentals since her son has been staying with Cauden’s daughter for five years without paying lobola
“She says that since my son never paid a single dollar for her daughter, my family must give her a portion of its income,” Ticharasa said.
She said when they did not yield, Cauden took matters into her own hands and forcefully occupied one of the rooms in her house and attempted to collect rent from her tenants.
“She barges into the property unannounced, threatens my tenants, and tells them not to give me any money, claiming that she now has equal rights to the house because her daughter lives with my son,” she said.
Mukotaringa said the incident terrified her tenants and one reportedly moved out after Cauden physically pushed them out of the way while shouting that the house belongs to her daughter too.
She said that when she tried to reason with her, Cauden hurled insults at her and became aggressive.
“She told me she would make my life miserable unless I started sharing the rent money. She even threatened to report me for abusing her daughter,” she said.
Mukotaringa claimed that she had been living peacefully with her daughter-in-law in-law but Cauden’s action had started to affect the relationship and that of her son and his wife.
“My son is under pressure, and his wife is stuck in the middle, being forced to choose between her mother and her marriage,” she said.
Cauden said that she had every right to make demands because the traditional marriage was incomplete.
“My daughter was taken like a stray dog, with no respect for our family customs and without acknowledging her roots? They must pay, or I will get justice in my own way,” she said.
“They abuse my daughter to the extent that she was once seriously ill, and they did not inform me and I had to hear about it from their neighbour,” she lamented.
The magistrate granted the protection order against Cauden and reminded her that while bride price was important, it did not grant legal rights over someone’s property.
She encouraged both families to resolve the bride price issue through traditional means and mediation, rather than unlawful action and harassment.
