Buyanga, guns for the lawyer in a child custody case

Johannesburg - ZIMBABWEAN  businessman Frank Buyanga says he has been unfairly maligned by news coverage of an infamous child custody case and he's now fighting to get the lawyer representing his ex-girlfriend, mother of his young son, to be sanctioned for being "emotionally involved and is  overstepping the bounds of the law."

At the core of the custody dispute is that Buyanga's ex-girlfriend had illegally denied him access to their minor son. The businessman said he had tried to get have access to the child especially during holidays but Chantelle Muteswa, mother of the minor, denied him that right.

The businessman approached the courts and was granted in order on the 17th of  April, instructing the mother to hand over the child's passport every time she takes him to visit Buyanga.

Now, Buyanga said the lawyer representing Muteswa, Munyaradzi Bwanya, kept his passport at his offices disregarding the order of the court.

In a letter to Law Society of Zimbabwe, dated 25 April, the businessman demand the ethics board governing lawyers sanction him for "actively participating in the subversion of justice by hiding the minor's passport yet the matter had already been pronounced on by courts."

The letter reads: "This fraudulent behaviour by Mr Bwanya is worrisome as he is an officer of the court. My lawyers have tried in vain to impress upon him that he should not disobey orders of our courts and to interpose himself in a dispute that is for the courts to resolve."

Buyanga adds: "Not only did Mr Bwanya disregard a standing court order, he actively participated in the subversion of justice by hiding the minor's passport yet the matter had already been pronounced on by our courts. He has behaved in an unprofessional and unethical manner, disobeying a court directive, he is in contempt."

The businessman reported the matter at Borrowdale police station against Muteswa and she is currently out on bail and will be in back at the Rotten Row magistrate Courts on the 10th of May. She allegedly failed to turn in the child's passport in compliance with a court order.

On Saturday morning after being notified of the complaint against him and the Law Society, Bwanya of Wilmot and Bennett, told media that Muteswa had appealed against a Magistrate Court order to release her son's passport despite the fact that Buyanga was never notified of any appeal nor was he served with the alleged new court order.

Bwanya and Muteswa then claimed that also had laid a counter contempt of court case.

Further investigations by this publication revealed that Bwanya had applied for Ex parte Order, after the letter, had been served already to the Law society and he had been notified. Such an order is granted on the request of and for the benefit of one party only. Ex parte matters are usually temporary orders pending a formal hearing or an emergency request for a continuance.