New twist in Chigwedere witchcraft saga

Former Education minister Aeneas Chigwedere's son, Mangwiza, has turned the heat on his father's lawyer, Tendai Masawi of Masawi and Partners, accusing the legal practitioner of gross misconduct.

Chigwedere has been taken to court on several occasions by his son accusing him of possessing goblins that were tormenting the family.

The witchcraft case was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds with the magistrate ruling that the matter was more on the spiritual side.

In a letter of complaint submitted to the Law Society of Zimbabwe and the Judiciary Service Commission on July 29, 2016, Mangwiza accused Masawi of obstructing some defendants whom he had taken to court.

In the letter, Mangwiza said Masawi lied that he was representing all the 22 people he had sued whereas he only represented his father (Chigwedere) and his wife Emilia Zharare.

"I write this complaint due to gross misconduct of one of your lawyers, a Tendai Masawi, at a court hearing on the 17th of May 2016 at Marondera Magistrates' Court, Case Ref. C22/16. I was not happy with the conduct of Tendai Masawi as he abused his proficiency and exploited the law with the assistance of the presiding magistrate, a Josephine Tenesi Sande. This was a Customary Law and Local Courts hearing and involved defendants who mostly were obstructed by Tendai Masawi from being heard," Mangwiza said.

"Please will you deal with this as a matter of urgency as this case C22/16 handled by Tendai Masawi will be used as a reference case, which the Law Society will be cited as a respondent to answer for his conduct especially with regards to the oath he took when he assumed office ."

In May, Mangwiza took 22 members of the Chigwedere clan to court in a bid to nail his father at Marondera Civil Court, but presiding magistrate Sande dismissed the case.

The application to the Law Society came about after Chigwedere, through his lawyer, Masawi, asked Mangwiza, through a notice of taxation, to pay total costs of $6 498 incurred during the court processes.

According to Masawi, part of the costs included travelling expenses to rural Wedza where he went to interview the respondents, an assertion Mangwiza dismissed.

Annexures attached to the complaint showed three of Chigwedere's brothers have since refuted claims that they were being represented by Masawi, accusing the latter of denying them a chance to represent themselves in the court.