Mother foils married son’s ‘secret’ wedding

Alexander Mugano took to his heels after being assaulted by his mother, leaving his would-be bride Rachael Marawo behind.

After Mugano escaped from the beating, his mother then fainted after being overcome by emotions and was taken to hospital by a taxi driver who offered his car.
Mugano’s mother burst into the court while magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo was explaining the rules and regulations of Chapter 5:11 of the Marriages Act to all those who had come to wed.

She was shouting that she had come to stop the “circus” and Mugano could be heard asking her why she came uninvited.
Mugano then walked out of the courtroom, leaving his mother sitting next to Marawo.

Mugano’s mother told Mr Makomo that her son had a wife and two children aged five years and two months.
“Pamusoroi mutongi, zvinoitawo here kuti munhu ane mukadzi kumba achate nemumwe? (Excuse me Your Worship, is it lawful for someone who has a wife at home to wed with another woman?),” she said.

“He wants to marry this girl of loose morals yet he has a wife and two kids at home.”
Mugano’s mother then broke down in the court before following her son outside where she clapped and punched him, forcing him to flee from the courts.

“Muroora mhanya kuno kucourt ndavabata vakutochata,” Mugano’s mother could be heard calling her  daughter-in-law on her mobile phone.
Magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo told Marawo to call her boyfriend and his mother back so that he would determine if the objection could be sustained.

But the two were no longer at the courts, forcing Mr Makomo to advise Marawo to plead with them to come to court any day for the determination.
Mr Makomo said he wanted to verify if the customary union between Mugano and his first wife was registered in terms of the Customary Marriages Act.

Mugano intended to wed Marawo under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriages Act. If a person is married customarily and the union is registered in terms of the Customary Marriages Act, he cannot marry another person in terms of Chapter 5:11 while that union is still subsisting.