Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura
Weekender Reporter
A 13-YEAR long relationship between a Rusape woman and her live-in boyfriend has collapsed in bitter fashion, culminating in a dispute before Chief Makoni’s community court.
Lainah Twakali (49) dragged her former partner, George Chipunda (37), to the traditional court demanding three beasts or US$1 000 in compensation.
She accused him of promising marriage, wasting her time, and abandoning her after more than a decade of cohabitation.
The pair first met at a Headlands farm in 2013.
Twakali, a widow with five children and 12 grandchildren, said Chipunda—who she claimed had already endured four failed marriages—proposed love and assured her of marriage despite knowing her background.
She said she moved in with him and supported him through the years, believing his pledge.
“I stayed with Chipunda for 13 years after he promised to marry me. He did not fulfil his promise all these years, and that is why I brought this case before the court. The relationship did not produce any child.
“He also sold all the property we acquired while staying together,” she said, adding that they had worked on farms in Headlands, developed their homestead, built a house and installed a borehole.
His family knew her, and at his parents’ encouragement, the couple had moved back to the village to protect their stand from invasion.
“His parents told me that Chipunda had four previously failed marriages and said that, being older, I might be able to handle him so that he could settle down.
“I am a widow. He knew my background very well and still said he would be my children’s father. I also want to share the property we accumulated together, including goats, pigs, roofing sheets and bricks,” said Twakali.
Chipunda made a counter-claim, arguing that it was Twakali who had wasted his time.
He alleged that she had a tendency of faking pregnancies and disputed owing her, telling the court that they had already shared the property fairly.
“May this court ask this woman to produce her national identity card and see the age difference between us? I stayed with her from 2013 to 2026. Staying with this woman was more of force, ndakaitwa kumbunyikidzwa. I am the same age as her first-born. She has five children and 12 grandchildren.
This woman destroyed the house I had built and took the roofing sheets,” he said.
He also claimed she took advantage of his age to stay with him after he found her working on a farm in Headlands.
“She would claim she was pregnant, and I would buy all the preparations, only to discover that she was lying. I will abide by the court’s ruling, but this woman wasted my time. She is 12 years older than me and I need the court’s help,” he said.
Chipunda added that when they separated, they shared their property equally in the presence of police special constabulary officers.
She allegedly took goats and some roofing sheets.
“We had two pigs which I later sold as I was struggling with feed costs,” he said.
Chief Makoni ruled that the parties were cohabiting, and evidence showed that neither had wasted the other’s time.
He ordered Chipunda to give Twakali US$120 or a pig and to meet her costs of suit.
“From the evidence presented in this court it is clear that you all wasted each other’s time cohabiting. No party can say its time was wasted. Both of you had previous marriages. The issue of property sharing was also resolved. Chipunda is ordered to give Twakali one pig or US$120. You were just a boyfriend and girlfriend, so there is no issue of a divorce token. Chipunda is to meet the costs of suit of US$45,” ruled the court.
