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Fungai Lupande Senior Court Reporter
Vice President Kembo Mohadi has approached the High Court seeking to give his side of the story in the divorce wrangle with estranged wife Tambudzani.

VP Mohadi filed his application for condonation of the late filing of heads of argument and upliftment of bar in case number HC 9929/18.

Magistrate Mr Noah Gwatidzo, Tambudzani, Irene and Abigail Mohadi and Malcom Ambrose are cited as respondents.
“The parties in casu have been embroiled in several legal cases. Tambudzani in HC 8991/18 filed an application for review against the decision of Mr Gwatidzo,” read the application.

“In HC 9929/ 18 Tambudzai filed another application for review by the same magistrate and when she filed her heads of arguments in HC 9929/18 they were mistakenly placed in the file for HC 8991/18.

“Heads of argument for HC 9929/18 were filed. However, heads of arguments for HC 8991/ 18 were not filed due to my mistake as I failed to realise in time that these were two different cases in which decisions by the same magistrate were being brought under review.”

VP Mohadi said the mistake was only realised on June 6, 2019 and heads of argument were filed out of time on June 10, 2019.
He said the delay in casu is of about one month and cannot be said to be inordinate.

“The applicant has real prospects of success in the main matter because the ruling by the magistrate is not grossly irregular as a dismissal of a matter for non-appearance is not a dismissal of the matter on the merits,” read the application.
“The points in limine raised by Tambudzani were baseless and seriously without any merit.

“The magistrate was correct in dismissing them. Furthermore, the ruling by the magistrate addresses all the points and justifies why they were dismissed.”

VP Mohadi insisted that facts raised in the application were very important and their resolution will assist in resolving a similar case which is pending before the courts.

He added that he was not asking the court to extend time within which to file their heads of argument, but for them to be formally admitted on record. VP Mohadi was last year granted a protection order against Tambudzani and she applied for a review of proceedings after he filed for contempt of court.

She is also claiming $13 000 per month for maintenance pending finalisation of the divorce.