HUBBY SQUANDERS US$30K SEVERANCE PAY WITH SMALL HOUSE

A man from Harare tried filing for a protection order against his wife, alleging that she has unlawfully taken possession of their shared property and withheld important documents from him, but had his application rejected.

The man was trying to resolve a property dispute with the wrong order, in the wrong court.

However, presiding magistrate Ms Meenal Narotam found there were no grounds for a protection order.

The magistrate noted that the central dispute over use of the two houses the couple were arguing over had to be resolved in a different court.

Mr Hillary Madzvimbo claimed that his wife, Caroline Madzvimbo, seized the two houses by force and is refusing him access.

But the wife counter-argued that the houses in the dispute were built before he left his job with Econet and that she needed to rent them out to have an income to support the couple’s children as her jobless husband no longer has an income.

Mrs Madzvimbo claimed that her husband, after leaving his job, stayed with a girlfriend where he squandered his severance package.

Mr Madzvimbo had asserted that he built the two houses in Harare’s Eastview suburb after resigning from his job at Econet, where he received a severance package of US$30 000.

He expressed frustration in court.

“My wife claims she is in charge of the two houses, but I do not have access to either property because she has put tenants in both,” Mr Madzvimbo said.

He alleges that Mrs Madzvimbo is collecting rent from the tenants and misappropriating the funds.

Following a car accident on March 29 last year, he said, Mrs Madzvimbo took possession of all his important documents, including his driver’s license, and began to assert control over the properties.

He described a hostile situation, claiming that whenever he asks about his documents or the properties, his wife responds with insults and threats.

In response, Mrs Madzvimbo denied her husband’s claims. She insisted that she is the true victim in this situation that her husband is falsely claiming she created.

She argued that when Mr Madzvimbo resigned, they already owned two houses, and he only contributed US$4 000 of his severance pay to her business, which has since supported their family.

“The rest of that money was squandered by his girlfriend while he was living with her,” she said. Herald

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