The High Court is the upper guardian of children with a
statutory duty to safeguard the interests of children within the precincts of
the Constitution and the dictates of regional conventions like the African
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child as well as international
instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Justice Munangati-Manongwa said as parents tussle over
custody of children sometimes they seem oblivious that the best interests of
the children reign supreme over parents’ inclinations.
She made the remarks in a judgment of a couple involved in
a bitter legal combat over custody of their three minor children.
“Children are not chattels to be exchanged at will, held
and used as pawns for parents’ selfish ends either to settle scores or score a
victory,” said Justice Munangati-Manongwa. “Children have rights and are
entitled to their dignity and humane treatment.”
The estranged couple, Lloyd Machacha and Precious Mhlanga,
are embroiled in an acrimonious wrangle over custody of their three daughters.
The two separated and Mhlanga had custody of the girls aged
10, 6 and 4, but Machacha was given access to the children during holidays.
When the children came to his house for holidays, Machacha
obtained a prohibitory order at the Children’s Court after being informed that
Mhlanga wanted to take the children out of the country, without prior written
consent of the children’s father.
The court also granted him an interim order for the
children to continue staying with him pending the disposal of another
application for joint custody pending at the Children’s Court. Upon realising
that Machacha had not returned the children home after the holiday, Mhlanga
went to collect the children in the absence of her estranged husband.
She managed to pick up the two minor children leaving the
eldest after she was locked in the house by one of Machacha’s maids.
This prompted Machacha to approach the High Court seeking
to have the two girls back, claiming that Mhlanga had violently snatched them
and had stopped them from going to school.
But Justice Munangati-Manongwa ruled the application by
Machacha had no merit, saying he was simply seeking to frustrate his wife from
enjoying custody rights to the prejudice of the children.
She noted that Mhlanga has had the children since 2020 as
sanctioned by the court and that Machacha sought to use every trick in the book
to wrestle the children from their mother. Herald
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