Dog fight as Tuku daughter divorces

A DOG is reputed to be man or woman's best friend and this certainly seems to be the case for Samantha Mtukudzi, the daughter of the late great Tuku, who demanded that Alvin Jazz, a maltese breed that belonged to her and now estranged husband ex-footballer, Tinashe Nengomasha, should fall under her ownership as part of their pending divorce settlement.

The dog, caught the eye among a host of other luxury items that Samantha wants the courts to decide on in the high-profile divorce.  According to court documents reportedly seen by online news website Zimlive, Samantha is demanding an equal share of a proceeds from the sale of houses in Hillside in Harare, Honeydueridge Residential Estate in South Africa and a Nissan Navara.

Samantha also wants custody of the couple's two children as well as Alvin Jazz. A maltese, which belongs to the toy group of dogs, traditionally has distinctive silky, pure-white coat, hanging ears and a tail that curves over its back, and can weigh up to 3.6 kgs.  Samantha first initiated divorce proceedings against the former Kaizer Chiefs and Zimbabwe Warriors midfielder in 2019.

"The plaintiff (Samantha) avers that the marriage relationship between the parties has so irretrievably broken down that there are no prospects of restoration of a normal marriage relationship, more particularly in that the parties have lost all love and affection for each other and the parties have not lived together as a husband and wife for a continuous period exceeding 24 months," her lawyers said in her amended summons.

They also added: "It would be just and equitable that the immovable assets are distributed as follows, that 17 Gibbons Avenue, Hillside, Harare, be shared in such a way that each gets 50 percent,"

Samantha's decade long marriage to Nengomasha started in controversial fashion after she was disowned by her father for eloping with the football star.

"When Samantha fell pregnant with her first child Brooklyn, she was not yet married to Tinashe and Tuku kicked her out of the family home as punishment," Tuku's former publicist Shepperd Mutamba wrote in his tell all book, Tuku Backstage.

Despite a superstar father and a celebrity husband, Samantha had always shunned the spotlight, Mutamba said.

"Despite being married to Tinashe Nengomasha, a Zimbabwean international soccer celebrity, Samantha herself shies away from celebrity life. At her wedding, in Harare, on Christmas Eve in 2011, she barred the media from her wedding ceremony. Even after the wedding, not a single photograph was released to the newspapers. Such are her private life choices," Mutamba wrote about the vocalist.

At the time of her father's death, Samantha had reconciled with her father, becoming a member of his band, the Black Spirits.