The ManicaPost
Prayer Muronzerei
Post Reporter
DEMANDING ownership of his late father’s house has left a Mutare man at loggerheads with his stepmother as the two are clashing over the estate.
Unable to find common ground, the two parties have approached the courts seeking recourse.
Tawanda Magwenzi (23) of Hobhouse wants to be allowed to stay at the house, and is contesting being barred from setting foot at the property by his stepmother, Memory Mukwirimba.
She is claiming that she is the sole custodian of the house since she contributed in its buying together with her late husband.
Mutare provincial magistrate, Mr Langton Mukwengi, heard the matter.
Magwenzi said he used to stay with his unidentified mother after his father’s death in 2015, but things took a nasty turn when she remarried.
He said his continued stay with his mother became untenable resulting in him opting to move into his late father’s house in Hobhouse.
However, his attempts hit a brick wall after facing resistance from his stepmother.
“Your Worship, I am homeless, and this woman does not want me near my father’s house,” said Magwenzi.
Mukwirimba did not deny barring Magwenzi from coming to the house, saying she feared for her safety as she claimed that Magwenzi is mentally unstable.
“Before my late husband died, we had already separated. He took away most of our property, including the car we had bought together, and moved in with another woman because I had failed to bear him children. I continued staying at the house, and since his death, none of his relatives communicated with me.
“I no longer consider them as my family,” said Mukwirimba.
If Magwenzi was well-behaved, she would consider taking him in, added Mukwirimba.
She said: “He takes drugs which have left him mentally unstable. At one point when he came over to the house, he destroyed some household property, and subjected me to indecent exposure. I do not want him anywhere near my house.”
The court heard that details of the ownership of the house had not been changed after Mukwirimba, and her late husband bought it.
Mr Mukwengi, however, could not make a ruling on the matter, saying the house’s ownership had not yet been changed.
