The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
A ZIMUNYA woman was left with egg on the face after her $50 000 maintenance claim from her married lover was thrown out by the court.
Rather, the court granted Gracious Chiunye $3 000 as maintenance for her six-month-old daughter, citing that her initial application was exorbitant, and that she had ulterior motives of punishing her unemployed married lover, Tapiwa Rubaya.
The matter was recently presided over by Mutare magistrate, Ms Purity Gumbo at Mutare Civil Court.
In her application, Chiunye was asking for $20 000, but when the pair appeared in court she shifted goal posts and asked for $50 000, stating that the cost of living had risen from the time she had made the initial application.
“Your Worship, $50 000 is the only sensible amount that I will accept because the cost of living is rising daily in this country. My child needs to live comfortably because both her parents are still alive.
“I just realised when I got into town today that the $20 000 that I had applied for last week is now very little. I do not think it will sustain us for the whole month,” said Chiunye.
However, the court would hear none of it.
Ms Gumbo told Chiunye that the court does not accept haphazard changes,’ adding that the court would work with the initial $20 000 maintenance application.
“Initially, you had written that you were applying for $20 000 as maintenance for your child, but you are changing that to $50 000. I must tell you that such changes are not permissible in this court. That is not how the law works, we do not work on after-thoughts here,” said Ms Gumbo.
In his response to Chiunye’s application, Rubaya told the court that he is unemployed and that from his part time jobs, he gets around $12 500 a month.
“That $12 500 is what I use to look after my wife and three children at home. My child with Chiunye is the fourth child and if I have to give her the $20 000 she wanted in her written application, I will be left in debt. I cannot afford that,” he said.
Rubaya offered to pay $2 500 for the child.
In her ruling, Ms Gumbo asked Chiunye to put the needs of the child first before thinking of fixing the other party by demanding exorbitant amounts as child care.
Rubaya was ordered to pay $3 000 monthly for the upkeep of his child until she becomes self-sufficient or reaches the age of 18.
“You need to set your differences aside when it comes to taking care of the child. You should also take into consideration that this man, despite being the father of your child, he also has a family that solely depends on him,” she said.
