adminMpumelelo Nyoni Chronicle Reporter
A ZIMPLATS employee will be taking home $50 from his monthly salary of $483 after a magistrate granted $433 garnishee order against his pay for the upkeep of his minor child. Tichivangani Museba was dragged to court yesterday by his estranged wife, Tapiwa Nyabudza, after he accrued maintenance arrears of nearly $4,000 over three years.
The court had ordered him to pay $100 monthly maintenance in May 2011, which he did not honour. He was summoned to court again in January last year but did not attend.
Yesterday, Nyabudza requested magistrate Takunda Mtetwa to order her enstranged husband to pay her $433 per month in order to settle the debt.
Museba, who lives in his company’s compound in Mhondoro, professed ignorance about the arrears.
“I’m surprised that I’m here today. My wife and I are not in talking terms so I sent my brother in 2013 to attend the court hearing on my behalf as I was tied up at work,” he said.
“My brother then told me that she didn’t come to court on the day in question. She never told me that I was in arrears all this time and I think she is just trying to fix me.”
Magistrate Mtetwa dismissed the claim and told Museba he was supposed to follow up the case himself.
“In 2013, you were ordered to pay $433 to recover the arrears but you decided to abscond. You were supposed to follow up the case yourself instead of sending your brother,” Mtetwa said.
“You have been in hiding for the past three years and your actions show contempt of court. If you want a reversal of the decision you have to make a separate application.”
The deduction begins this month end.
Online Reporter