Estate laws challenged

gavel_court-1Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The Supreme Court is set to decide on whether children born out of wedlock are entitled to inheritance under the general law in a case in which 10 children are contesting a High Court ruling barring them from benefiting from the estate of their late father. In an appeal brought to court by 10 children born out of wedlock to late Masvingo businessman Thomas Zawaira, who died in 2003, the court is being asked to overturn the lower court’s decision which bars them from the estate. The High Court ruled that the only lawful beneficiaries of the estate were children from Zawaira’s union with the late Mrs F Zawaira. This was the judge’s interpretation of the Marriages Act (Chapter 5: 11) under which Zawaira and his wife were married. They were married under the general law (Marriage Act) in 1958 and were blessed with six children.

The children are now adults.
Zawaira also had 10 children born out of wedlock. These children want the court to give them equal protection before the law in terms of the Constitution, arguing the general law is discriminatory.

A three-judge panel led by Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba heard the appeal last week and reserved ruling after hearing arguments from both parties.
Mrs Priscillah Munangati-Manongwa of Mungati and Goneso law firm, assisted by Mr Sikhumbuzo Mpofu, represented the 10 children while Mr Hamios Mukonoweshuro appeared for Mr Robert Zawaira, who won the case in the lower court to elbow the 10 out of the estate.

Munangati-Manongwa argued that children born out of wedlock should also be accorded the protection of the law.
“The effects of being born in or out of wedlock of the marriage of the parents should not affect the rights of children. Children do not choose parents and the marriage status of the parents,” she said.

Mrs Munangati-Manongwa also argued that the Administration of Estate Act provides a choice of law formula.
In this case, she argued, the law creates only a presumption that if a person contracted marriage under the Marriage Act (Chapter 5:11) his or her estate is administered under the general law.

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