Online Reporter
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
A 63-YEAR-OLD man who spent over four decades in the United Kingdom has returned to his rural roots, demanding ownership of his late father’s homestead, arguing that his stepmother had separated with his father at the time of his death.
Davies Muchanyuka, who left for the UK in 1982, found himself locked in a bitter inheritance dispute with his late father’s widow, Mbuya Rosy Muchanyuka and his late half-brother’s wife, Emily Mutasa — both of whom accused him of harassment and attempting to evict them from their homestead, under Chief Mutasa.
When she appeared before Chief Mutasa’s community court recently, Mbuya Muchanyuka said she was being driven out of the only home she had known for decades.
“I am being chased away from my home which my late husband left me. I was lawfully wedded to my now late husband, and we had our children. Later on, my husband’s children from another woman, one of whom is Davies, came, and I accepted them as my own. We lived together peacefully until they went to the UK about 30 years ago. They would visit and return to the UK,” she said tearfully.
She said when her husband died in 1995, they were still happily married and that, to this day, she still wears her wedding ring.
Mbuya Muchanyuka added that the dispute began earlier this year after her biological son passed away.
“After my son’s death this year, Davies came and stayed with his wife for some time. When my daughter-in-law visited me, Davies changed the locks at the house. The house where my late son’s widow was staying is now under Davies’s control, and he is chasing her away,” she said.
The victimised widow, Emily Mutasa, said she had stayed at the homestead peacefully for more than 20 years before the recent harassment began.
“I got married in 2002, and the family agreed that my husband and I would stay in the house in question. The house belonged to my mother-in-law. He would visit and check on us regularly. In 2022, he came with his white wife, and we hosted them so well. We washed her clothes and cooked for her. We treated them like royalty, but he was very rude to us,” she explained.
Emily said Davies’s behaviour worsened when her husband fell ill, and later passed on.
“Last year, he came again while my husband was bedridden, and he continued harassing him. My husband died in February this year. In July, Davies started harassing me too. One day, I went away for a short while, and when I returned, I found that he had locked the screen gate and changed the door padlocks. I thought he had forgotten to leave me some keys. I ended up sleeping at a relative’s house until the village head intervened. That same night, Davies started shouting at me, saying I had to leave the homestead since my husband had died. He told my relatives that if they leave me here, he would axe and kill me, and out of fear, they took me away. He said he had visitors who wanted to visit him, and that I had to go,” she narrated.
Davies, however, dismissed the allegations as fabrications.
“The pair is lying against me. The home belonged to my late father. When my father died, he no longer had a wife. They divorced in 1972, and that is when my father built the homestead in question. This woman was staying in the city then. In actual fact, when my father died, he was staying alone at that homestead. I went to the UK in 1982, and have always maintained the homestead. I never built my own house there because this was our home. Actually, Emily was the one locking the door for me,” he said.
Davies said he renovated the property using his own money while in the UK and intended to stay there with his family.
“I fixed the house and kept it in good condition. My family will be coming soon from the UK to stay with me,” he said.
Mbuya Muchanyuka’s grandson, Munei Muchanyuka, contradicted Davies’ version, accusing him of violence and bringing traditional healers into the homestead.
“The visitors he wants to bring to that homestead are traditional healers. We grew up being devoted United Methodist Church members, and there was never any talk of traditional healers. He even posts on Facebook, tarnishing our grandmother’s image.
“She was the one who raised and paid his school fees at Hartzell High School because she was a nurse,” he said.
Munei said Davies has a history of violence.
“He violated a protection order, and as we speak, he has a pending case before the courts. I stay in the diaspora as well, but I had to come back to protect my grandmother because he is very violent towards her and my aunt. He has been posting on Facebook, tarnishing my grandmother’s image, making unfounded allegations when she was the one who made him what he is today,” he said.
Munei presented screenshots of the Facebook posts allegedly made by Davies.
Chief Mutasa reprimanded Davies, and ruled that the widow had a legitimate right to stay at the homestead as the surviving spouse of the deceased.
“This woman is your late father’s surviving spouse. You do not distribute that estate while she is still alive. You cannot be crying for your father’s house when his widow is here. Get out of that homestead and build your own.
“You two, Davies and Emily, should not be fighting for this homestead when the rightful inheritor is still alive. You cannot disrespect someone because of her late husband’s estate,” said Chief Mutasa.
