Verdict: True
Legal practitioner Kwanele Nxumalo, told CITE the ruling was passed at a Magistrates Court a few years back explaining reference can be made to it when dealing with similar cases.
“The net effect of this ruling is that it binds the magistrates’ courts on cases of a similar nature,” said Nxumalo.
However, we cannot say it’s a landmark decision because the Supreme Court has not pronounced a judgment on the issue although it can be treated as a land mark decision at Magistrates Court,” said Nxumalo.
Background
Social media has been awash this week after news of a member of a bride’s team during a dowry ceremony snitched to the bridegroom that a baby purported to be his belonged to someone else.
Twitter account holder, @ZimAround also posted an article about a man who recently and unknowingly married a woman with a child that was not his. The article cited a ruling made in 2015 by High Court judges Justice Hlekani Mwayera and Justice Tendai Uchena in a case where a man sought to divorce his wife who cheated on him. http://zimlii.org/zw/judgment/files/harare-high-court/2015/755/2015-zwhhc-755.pdf
In the case, Liberty Machodo discovered that his wife had cheated on him on multiple occasions with multiple people who included his elder and younger brothers, a nephew and a herd boy.
After learning of the gross betrayal and breach of the marriage contract, Machodo divorced her.
The High Court upheld the ruling of a Magistrates Court to the effect that customarily a husband is allowed to divorce an adulterous wife and lobola refunds if he has paid it in full.
Source: An online publication iHarare on April 27 2021, published a story to the effect that according to rulings made by the Magistrate’s Court and the High Court of Zimbabwe, a man husband is entitled to a full refund of his lobola when cheated on by a wife.
The publication cited a 2015 ruling made by Justice Hlekani Mwayera and Justice Tendai Uchena. https://iharare.com/high-court-rules-that-husband-is-entitled-to-full-lobola-refund-if-wife-cheats/
