A TSHOLOTSHO man based in South Africa, Gordon Ndlovu from Sydneyham Village 7 in the Gwayi area, has lost livestock and an assortment of household property worth thousands of dollars to his estranged wife.
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Ndlovu, who owns two homesteads — one in Gwayi and the other in Bhubhude, Tsholotsho —said his common law wife Junior Ncube initially took four beasts from his Gwayi homestead under the pretext that they were going to be used to plough his brother’s fields in Bhubhude in 2007.
Ndlovu said she took three others that are unaccounted for.
On Monday, Ncube attached six beasts and six goats after getting a writ of execution from the courts while Ndlovu was away in South Africa.
Ndlovu said he engaged the services of a lawyer when he was informed that his livestock was disappearing at the hands of Ncube.
Ndlovu, who arrived in the country on Tuesday — a day after Ncube had grabbed the cattle and goats — told Southern Eye he was shocked that his wife took almost all the property they owned in his absence. He was also surprised that the courts granted her authority to attach six other beasts yet she had already grabbed most property they jointly owned without his knowledge.
“It all started in 2007 when I was in South Africa when Ncube, whom I was customarily married to, approached the headman in Sydneyham requesting permission to transport four cows from our homestead to my other home in Tsholotsho where she said she wanted to use them to plough the fields. She told him that I had authorised her to move the cows,” said Ndlovu.
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“Ncube took the cattle and the rest of the property in the house, but she did not send them to Tsholotsho.
“When I heard the news while in South Africa, I called her to find out if it was true, but she did not give me a satisfactory answer.
“I then came to Zimbabwe and reported the case to the police who advised me to take the case to the civil court. I engaged a lawyer and we went to the Tsholotsho Magistrates’ Court.”
Ndlovu said the case could not be solved then because his wife did not have a lawyer and they were told to decide whether to settle the matter out of court or to return after she had found a lawyer.
He said Ncube then relocated to South Africa, but was later deported and she decided to continue fighting him over property.
Ndlovu said Ncube took the matter to court in his absence and magistrate Victor Mpofu ruled that she could take most of their property, which included household items, cattle and goats.
Mpofu granted the order to have the couple share the property on January 2 2013.
On Monday the court also granted Ncube a writ of execution to attach six cattle and six goats from Ndlovu’s home.
Ndlovu said on his arrival from South Africa on Tuesday, he was informed that his cattle and goats had been attached and a follow-up on them had yielded nothing.
Ndlovu said in previous cases when Ncube grabbed his cattle, he did not file a formal report with the police for the sake of their children thinking they would feel bad that he caused the arrest of their mother.
