A funeral assurance company employee says he lost his job after a relationship with a woman training as a mortician at Rusape General Hospital became the subject of a dispute before Chief Makoni’s traditional court.
Takudzwa Masamba admitted that he had been in a relationship with Patience, but said she had told him she was single. Her husband, Frank Tika, accused Masamba of dating his wife and contributing to the breakdown of their 10-year marriage.
Tika went to the court seeking three beasts from Masamba. He told the traditional leader that he had paid US$2,500 in bride price and that he and Patience had a child together.
He said Patience met Masamba at Rusape General Hospital, where she was training as a mortician. Tika said he had secured her a place at the hospital and later discovered the relationship after finding pictures on her phone.
“I am in pain because of what Patience did to me. She is my wife of 10 years, and we have a child together. I paid a bride price of US$2 500. I secured her a place at the hospital to train as a mortician. This is where she met Masamba and started dating. I discovered the affair through Patience’s phone where they were sending pictures. Patience’s parents called me to their house and forced me to accept a divorce token. They said I was going to harm their daughter since I was raising adultery allegations.”
Tika told the court that Masamba contacted him after learning that he knew about the relationship. He said Masamba claimed he had not known Patience was married. Tika said he told Masamba to stop seeing his wife, but alleged that Masamba responded that there was nothing he could do to him.
“When Masamba heard that I was now aware of their affair he called me and claimed that he was not aware the Patience was a married woman. I told him to stop dating my wife, and to my surprise he said there was nothing I can do to him. Masamba was fired from his work over this issue,” he said.
Masamba accepted that he had dated Patience, but disputed that he had knowingly been involved with a married woman. He said he first met her when he went to the hospital to collect bodies of clients.
“I did not date a married woman. I met Patience when we visited Rusape General Hospital to collect bodies of clients and she was a mortician student. I asked her about her status, and she said she was single. I told her that I was married but I loved her. Tika has no proof that I dated his wife. Patience told me that she gave Tika divorce token. Tika is making several threats against me, including that my organ will be eaten by termites. I have lost my job over this matter. I am now afraid that he will harm me,” he said.
Masamba’s account was that Patience had told him she was no longer in a marriage with Tika. He also said that Tika had threatened him and that he feared he would be harmed.
Patience told the court she had handed Tika a divorce token twice, but said he had refused to accept that their relationship was over. She accused him of beating her, insulting her parents and bringing girlfriends to their home. She also said he had taken her undergarments and a bedroom towel to a traditional healer.
“Tika is lying that I am his wife. He was an abusive husband who used to beat me up. This led me to hand him divorce token twice. He also insulted my parents. Frank would consult traditional healers and took my undergarments. He would bring his girlfriends at our house. He made death threats against me.
“When I divorced Tika, he said he was going to fix me so that I bled forever. He grabbed me while walking in town and confiscated my cellphone. Police advised me to divorce Tika formally. I handed him the token in the presence of parents and his go-between,” she said.
Chief Makoni absolved Masamba of adultery, saying Patience had misled him about her marital status. The traditional leader advised Tika to seek a partial return of the bride price from Patience’s father, describing her conduct as unacceptable.
The ruling followed competing accounts of when the marriage had ended and what Masamba had been told about Patience’s status. Tika said the affair had damaged his marriage, while Patience maintained she had already given him a divorce token. Masamba said he believed she was single.
The case comes after another dispute before Chief Makoni in October, when Irvine Shayamano accused Godfrey Madzimure of having a relationship with his wife, Talent. Shayamano said his suspicions grew because Talent was frequently using and protecting her mobile phone with a password.
He said he eventually accessed the phone and found messages that he said showed a months-long relationship, which took place while he was working in Harare. He also told the court that Talent had sent their children to Madzimure to collect money for relish.
Madzimure admitted the relationship but said Talent and her children had told him she was divorced. Talent also admitted misleading him about her marital status. She accused Shayamano of abuse and of failing to provide enough support for the family.
Chief Makoni rejected Madzimure’s account and ordered him to pay Shayamano one beast in adultery damages and US$140 in litigation costs.
“It is cooked-up evidence that Talent told Madzimure that she was single. Madzimure knew that she was married, which is why he never went to her home. It is also difficult to believe that the children told him their mother was single,” the chief ruled.
The October ruling differs from the outcome in Tika’s case. In the earlier dispute, the chief found that Madzimure knew Talent was married. In the Rusape case, Chief Makoni concluded that Patience had misled Masamba about her marital status.
Another recent case before Chief Mutasa involved a relationship between neighbours, Farai Chiroto and Enelesi Muchiko, and Muchiko’s married lover, Misheck Wafangepi. Chiroto said he had heard rumours for some time but did not have evidence until he learnt that Wafangepi’s wife had caught the pair and demanded money from them.
Chiroto told the court that Muchiko had paid US$80 towards an arrangement in which she and Wafangepi were each expected to pay US$300 to keep the affair secret. He said the relationship had taken place in a tuckshop on his property while he was at work.
Wafangepi admitted that he had been involved with Muchiko between February and May, and said they had been intimate twice. Muchiko also admitted the affair. Wafangepi said he knew she was married, while he was married himself and had two children.
Chief Mutasa ordered Wafangepi to pay Chiroto five head of cattle. Muchiko was ordered to compensate Wafangepi’s wife with one beast or US$350.
These separate cases have brought disputes over relationships, separation and customary compensation before traditional leaders in different parts of Zimbabwe. The outcomes have turned on the details presented in each hearing: in some cases, a partner admitted to an affair but disputed knowing that the other person was married; in others, both people involved acknowledged that they knew.
In the Rusape dispute, the ruling left Tika with advice to pursue the return of part of the bride price from Patience’s father, rather than the three beasts he had sought from Masamba. The hearing also placed the job loss and the couple’s accounts of their marriage before the chief, alongside Patience’s claim that she had already ended the relationship and Masamba’s claim that he had believed her to be single.