News / Local
Man fakes a divorce certificate, dragged to court
03 Apr 2013 at 23:24hrs | Views
A 34-year-old Bulawayo man forged High Court documents and manufactured a divorce order in order to ditch his wife and marry a second one.
Milton Mlauzi, of 7290/01 Pumula North on Tuesday appeared in court facing a charge of bigamy for marrying a second wife while his marriage to Mrs Ester Chasunda-Mlauzi was still valid under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act.
Mlauzi and Mrs Mlauzi had been legally married for nine years and have two minor children aged four and one.
He was convicted on his own plea of guilty to bigamy when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Marylyn Mutshina.
Mlauzi was fined $200 or three months in prison.
On 8 February this year, Mlauzi married a second wife, Ms Tracey Hlozephi Khumalo at the Civil Court at Tredgold Building in Bulawayo under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act.
This was despite the fact that his marriage to Mrs Mlauzi under the same Act was still valid since their marriage on 27 November 2004 under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act, certificate number 51/04.
According to court documents, Mlauzi indicated that he was single when he made his vows with the new wife in court.
Mrs Mlauzi got to know about her husband's secret wedding when the mother of the "second wife" phoned and invited her to her house.
She showed her the counterfeit divorce orderpurporting that it had been granted by the High Court.
The fake divorce order had a forged signature of a Justice Choga and a fake High Court date stamp bearing the Assistant Registrar of the High Court of Zimbabwe and dated 24 January 2013 and order Number 209/13.
However, there is no judge by the name Justice Choga at the Bulawayo High Court.
Mrs Mlauzi then went to the Bulawayo High Court to inquire about the said divorce order and court officials told her that it was fake.
The fake divorce order also stated that the court granted maintenance for the couple's two minor children to the tune of $60 per child per month.
Mlauzi also misrepresented in the fake order that he had been ordered to give household property, which included a television set, bed, wardrobe, kitchen unit, fridge, satellite dish decoder, coffee table and two decoders to Mrs Mlauzi.
Each party, that is Mlauzi and Mrs Mlauzi, were each to pay cost of suit, according to the fake divorce order.
A witness, Ms Sunungurai Chenjerai, testified that Mlauzi prepared the documents from some typing shops around Bulawayo, one of them being Quivotree Typing Services, at Esats Building where she worked.
The witness told the court that Mlauzi saved the information in a memory stick and printed it somewhere in December last year.
Mlauzi told the court that he thought there was not going to be any problem since he was having problems in his marital life and wanted to divorce.
Mr Masimba Saruwaka appeared for the State.
Milton Mlauzi, of 7290/01 Pumula North on Tuesday appeared in court facing a charge of bigamy for marrying a second wife while his marriage to Mrs Ester Chasunda-Mlauzi was still valid under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act.
Mlauzi and Mrs Mlauzi had been legally married for nine years and have two minor children aged four and one.
He was convicted on his own plea of guilty to bigamy when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Marylyn Mutshina.
Mlauzi was fined $200 or three months in prison.
On 8 February this year, Mlauzi married a second wife, Ms Tracey Hlozephi Khumalo at the Civil Court at Tredgold Building in Bulawayo under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act.
This was despite the fact that his marriage to Mrs Mlauzi under the same Act was still valid since their marriage on 27 November 2004 under Chapter 5:11 of the Marriage Act, certificate number 51/04.
According to court documents, Mlauzi indicated that he was single when he made his vows with the new wife in court.
Mrs Mlauzi got to know about her husband's secret wedding when the mother of the "second wife" phoned and invited her to her house.
She showed her the counterfeit divorce orderpurporting that it had been granted by the High Court.
The fake divorce order had a forged signature of a Justice Choga and a fake High Court date stamp bearing the Assistant Registrar of the High Court of Zimbabwe and dated 24 January 2013 and order Number 209/13.
However, there is no judge by the name Justice Choga at the Bulawayo High Court.
Mrs Mlauzi then went to the Bulawayo High Court to inquire about the said divorce order and court officials told her that it was fake.
The fake divorce order also stated that the court granted maintenance for the couple's two minor children to the tune of $60 per child per month.
Mlauzi also misrepresented in the fake order that he had been ordered to give household property, which included a television set, bed, wardrobe, kitchen unit, fridge, satellite dish decoder, coffee table and two decoders to Mrs Mlauzi.
Each party, that is Mlauzi and Mrs Mlauzi, were each to pay cost of suit, according to the fake divorce order.
A witness, Ms Sunungurai Chenjerai, testified that Mlauzi prepared the documents from some typing shops around Bulawayo, one of them being Quivotree Typing Services, at Esats Building where she worked.
The witness told the court that Mlauzi saved the information in a memory stick and printed it somewhere in December last year.
Mlauzi told the court that he thought there was not going to be any problem since he was having problems in his marital life and wanted to divorce.
Mr Masimba Saruwaka appeared for the State.
Source - TC
