The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Weekender Correspondent
FOR demanding $4 000 spousal maintenance, a Dangamvura man was left with egg on his face when the court reprimanded him for trying to take advantage of their matrimonial problems.
The drama played itself out after 64-year-old Patson Willo dragged his lawfully wedded but estranged wife, Nyauchi Willo to court, accusing her of neglecting his financial needs and letting him suffer despite being a businesswoman who runs a shop in the city and operates a taxi.
Presiding over the matter was Mutare magistrate Ms Nyasha Kuture.
In his application, Patson told the court his wife of years had just recently left their matrimonial home and was neglecting him financially knowing fully well that he was living in poverty at their Dangamvura residence. He told the court his wife was earning US$600 every week from her taxi that plies the CBD-Forbes Border Post route and US$100 a week from her city centre shop. He also said that since they were still legally married and he was retired from his former job at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), he was entitled to not less than $4 000 of her money.
“If she gives me that money for my upkeep, she will not feel anything as she makes a lot more every week. I buy groceries worth $1 000, pay another $1 000 for transport, and the rest I need for home upkeep monthly,” said Patson.
He also stated that he needed $500 monthly for clothes and medication worth $500 each month. Nyauchi, however, would not hear of it as she stated that he had chased her from their matrimonial home in November 2019 and that he was only trying to take advantage of their matrimonial problems.
“Your Worship, it is evident that he threw me out of the house so he could fix me by claiming maintenance. I had gone to see my mother who was admitted at the hospital when I came back and found that he had locked the gates and doors, and refused me entry into the house. I will not give him anything,” declared wife.
She further told the court that the taxi business did not belong to her solely as she had partnered with a friend to buy the vehicle. She said she got around US$300 monthly from the taxi which they will then share with her business partner. She also told the court that she did not own any shop in the city, but rather rented a space in a shop for her business.
“Currently the shop is operating at a loss and I am failing to pay for rentals for myself because he chased me away. He however, gets ZWL$600 as his pensions and retirement benefits and US$30 rentals from our tenants, which is money that is enough for one man to survive throughout the whole month as he does not pay rentals or electricity bills,” she explained to the court. Ms Kuture dismissed the matter and advised Patson to seek for help concerning his matrimonial problems within relatives. This was after she had told him that the money he was already getting as his retirement benefits and rentals from tenants was more than enough to cater for him monthly.
