Elderly man demands back lobola he paid in 1965

AN elderly Harare man told the court on Friday that he is demanding  back the bride price he paid for his wife whom he customarily married in 1965.

Davison Mutasa of Western Triangle in Harare said this at Harare Civil Court where he was brought by Enita Chiwara who was applied that they share the property in the former's possession.

"She left me in 1965 when I asked her parents to have her healed because she could not conceive. The house was just a single room after I got it from the municipal superintendent," Mutasa told the court.

"She married a different man afterwards and it pains me to note that my in-laws accepted money from another man fully knowing she was my wife. We are legally married but she is staying with another husband right now and it pains me when I think of the money I paid.

"I asked her why she married another man when I met her in 1992 and she failed to give a clear explanation. She did not contribute towards the additional construction of my house as she was with another man," he said.

Mutasa said he was not in a position to share the house because he renovated it into a four-roomed house in her absence and also that they never had a child together.

Chiwara argued through her lawyer Mr Vincent Mazhetese that she remarried in 1988 after realising that Mutasa had moved on.

"He married five times after we separated and has more than 13 children.

"He claimed his lobola after my new husband paid money to my parents. We have a 39-year-old child together. I have a right to the house because I contributed to its renovation despite the fact he is the one who bought the construction material," she argued.

Presiding magistrate Ms Tatenda Manhanzva deferred ruling to September 16.