BRIAN CHIYANGWA
versus
SIBONGILE CHIYANGWA
HIGH COURT OF ZIMBABWE
MANGOTA J
HARARE, 24 January, 2018 and 23 May, 2018
Urgent Chamber Application
A. Gurira, for the applicant
Ms J.B Mudhege & V Vera, for the respondent
MANGOTA J: Children do not apply to have a father and mother who marry and, after they are born, divorce. Children find themselves into a family which desirably is expected to be stable, loving, caring and accommodating of their welfare as well as their day-to-day needs. Where their parents divorce or, for some reason, go their own separate routes, the parents’ disagreements do tend to adversely affect the emotional well-being of their children. These remain torn between the two parents as the latter’s feuds are, more often than not, harsh, agonising and traumatic to their children.
The law recognised this inevitable fact of life. It was for the mentioned reason, if for no other, that it placed a duty on the court to be the children’s upper guardian. Because of this fact, the court will always jealously guard against the infringement of the rights and / or welfare of these innocent souls who, not out of choice but natural course, find themselves at the mercy of parents who are at each other’s throats when they are not, and should not, be involved in the dispute of those who brought them onto mother earth.
The above described passage fits squarely into the situation of the applicant and the respondent. These are the natural parents of their two minor children. The children comprise:
- one Ephraim Chiyangwa, a boy, born on 23 March, 2003 - and
- one Hossana Chiyangwa, a girl, born on 26 June, 2006.
