adminLethokuhle Moyo Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman who fled her matrimonial home after she caught her husband with a sangoma performing rituals in their bedroom and sought refuge in a church has lost custody of her children. Albertina Mudau told the Maintenance Court yesterday that the sangoma left juju in their bedroom leaving her scared for her life, hence she moved out of the house. The woman said this during a hearing that saw Bulawayo magistrate Vivian Ndlovu rescinding an $800 maintenance judgment issued in default against her estranged husband Stanley Mudau for the upkeep of their two children.
The maintenance judgment was rescinded after Mudau attached a Juvenile Court ruling granting him custody of the children.
The Juvenile Court ruling shows that in that matter, Mudau acknowledged that he brought a sangoma home.
He said it had nothing to do with the lives of their children. He said Albertina dumped their children in Beitbridge and came to Bulawayo.
Mudau told the Maintenance Court yesterday that he was still staying with the children in Beitbridge.
He said if the children stay with him, they will be better catered for, adding that Albertina is a party person who hardly comes back home before 6PM.
Albertina opposed the application for rescission of judgment and added that the custody judgment was made when the children were on holiday in Beitbridge.
“I would like to oppose the application because I had included myself in the maintenance application. I used to stay at Beitbridge and I worked there but I’m now staying here in Bulawayo,” said Albertina.
“Since he was given the custody to stay with the children, I am requesting that the maintenance be reduced to cater for myself because I’m no longer employed.”
In her ruling, magistrate Ndlovu told Albertina that the application for the $800 maintenance indicates that it was for the children only.
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