Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
THE High Court has ordered a businessman to pay his estranged wife more than US$11 000 in monthly maintenance and a contribution towards her legal fees, following a bitter divorce dispute stemming from an unregistered customary law union that produced eight children.
Justice Fatima Maxwell ruled that Marvel Mtisi was entitled to US$11 726 per month in interim maintenance — reduced from the US$20 000 she had claimed — from her estranged partner Murombo Josiah Mimana.
The court also directed Mimana to shoulder 80 percent of Mtisi’s legal costs, citing a significant financial imbalance between the two parties.
Mtisi and Mimana began their customary union in December 2001, building a family and jointly running several businesses over more than two decades.
However, the relationship deteriorated after Mimana abruptly left the family home in March 2024, cutting off financial support that he had been remitting monthly until February 2025.
Mtisi told the court she had no independent income and had been excluded from their jointly developed companies, despite her 50 percent claim in entities involved in Jet A1 fuel supply contracts and mining operations.
She argued that the sudden withdrawal of support had left her and their children in financial distress.
In response, Mimana disputed Mtisi’s claims, insisting she was neither a shareholder nor a director in any of the companies and that previous remittances were corporate payments rather than personal support.
He also accused her of interfering with company operations.
However, Justice Maxwell dismissed his assertions, noting that Mimana had previously acknowledged Mtisi’s role as a shareholder and director in an earlier case (HCH 1259/25).
The judge said the abrupt end to financial support had left Mtisi “in a vulnerable position,” regardless of whether the funds originated from company accounts or Mimana personally.
