News / National
Mugabe's General ejects wife from house without court order
05 Oct 2014 at 21:40hrs | Views
Constantine Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, on Friday forcibly evicted his former wife, Jocelyn Mauchaza, from the Borrowdale Brooke house the two used to share without a court order or notice.
Chiwenga was granted a court order for divorce on September 8, 2014.
He reportedly used his military powers to get the High Court registrar's approval to kick out Jocelyn without following due process.
When The Zimbabwean arrived at Chiwenga's residence yesterday afternoon, there was heavy riot police presence keeping a close eye on Jocelyn while soldiers in plain clothes and some personnel hired by the sheriff led by one Madhenga, ransacked the house.
Jocelyn's belongings were thrown onto the roadside resulting in some being broken.
The kitchen was forced open by the sheriff who confessed working under "orders from the strongest offices".
Police forced Jocelyn's son to delete pictures of their presence and participation in the 'criminal' eviction.
Thabani Mpofu, the lawyer representing Jocelyn, told Madhenga that the eviction was illegal.
"Show me the court order empowering you to evict my client from her lawful home.
"Since you are evicting her without a court order you are committing a punishable offence and should be arrested," said Mpofu, instructing police to arrest Madhenga.
Madhenga could not produce the required court order and made frantic phone calls to some offices and remained adamant that he would not leave before kicking out Jocelyn.
He told Mpofu that he had the approval of the High Court registrar to effect the eviction.
It was revealed that Chiwenga wanted Jocelyn evicted at midnight on Thursday, but the sheriff could not secure police escort in time.
"Though I suspected something foul would be done regarding this case, never did I expect Chiwenga to disregard the due process this way," Mpofu said.
Unaware of The Zimbabwean's presence Madhenga admitted that something was amiss with the eviction but added that he had a family to feed and a job to save.
Mpofu suspected that the case had too many grey areas since both the High Court and Supreme Court registrars were refusing to accept their applications made on behalf of Jocelyn.
Despite Mpofu indicating that the evictions were illegal, the sheriff evicted Jocelyn, forcing her to relocate to her other house in the same suburb.
Today's eviction follows another recent one at the Dockson family farm in Goromonzi.
The Goromonzi eviction was reportedly also carried out without a court order.
Jocelyn told The Zimbabwean that she was prepared to fight the legal battle to the end, since Chiwenga was grabbing property she bought out of her own means.
"The property Chiwenga claims to be his was bought through my own hard work and resources. This is not Chiwenga's property," said Jocelyn showing rare bravery in the face of the violent eviction.
The High Court recently shared industrial and residential family properties between Jocelyn and Chiwenga.
Chiwenga wanted Jocelyn to walk out of the house with nothing of value, as he went as far as ordering the sheriff to make sure she left behind items as small as beer and wine.
Chiwenga was granted a court order for divorce on September 8, 2014.
He reportedly used his military powers to get the High Court registrar's approval to kick out Jocelyn without following due process.
When The Zimbabwean arrived at Chiwenga's residence yesterday afternoon, there was heavy riot police presence keeping a close eye on Jocelyn while soldiers in plain clothes and some personnel hired by the sheriff led by one Madhenga, ransacked the house.
Jocelyn's belongings were thrown onto the roadside resulting in some being broken.
The kitchen was forced open by the sheriff who confessed working under "orders from the strongest offices".
Police forced Jocelyn's son to delete pictures of their presence and participation in the 'criminal' eviction.
Thabani Mpofu, the lawyer representing Jocelyn, told Madhenga that the eviction was illegal.
"Show me the court order empowering you to evict my client from her lawful home.
"Since you are evicting her without a court order you are committing a punishable offence and should be arrested," said Mpofu, instructing police to arrest Madhenga.
Madhenga could not produce the required court order and made frantic phone calls to some offices and remained adamant that he would not leave before kicking out Jocelyn.
It was revealed that Chiwenga wanted Jocelyn evicted at midnight on Thursday, but the sheriff could not secure police escort in time.
"Though I suspected something foul would be done regarding this case, never did I expect Chiwenga to disregard the due process this way," Mpofu said.
Unaware of The Zimbabwean's presence Madhenga admitted that something was amiss with the eviction but added that he had a family to feed and a job to save.
Mpofu suspected that the case had too many grey areas since both the High Court and Supreme Court registrars were refusing to accept their applications made on behalf of Jocelyn.
Despite Mpofu indicating that the evictions were illegal, the sheriff evicted Jocelyn, forcing her to relocate to her other house in the same suburb.
Today's eviction follows another recent one at the Dockson family farm in Goromonzi.
The Goromonzi eviction was reportedly also carried out without a court order.
Jocelyn told The Zimbabwean that she was prepared to fight the legal battle to the end, since Chiwenga was grabbing property she bought out of her own means.
"The property Chiwenga claims to be his was bought through my own hard work and resources. This is not Chiwenga's property," said Jocelyn showing rare bravery in the face of the violent eviction.
The High Court recently shared industrial and residential family properties between Jocelyn and Chiwenga.
Chiwenga wanted Jocelyn to walk out of the house with nothing of value, as he went as far as ordering the sheriff to make sure she left behind items as small as beer and wine.
Source - thezimbabwean
