LINCOLN MAJOGO

As economic pressures continue to exert their full might on Zimbabweans, many are emigrating to Europe, the United Kingdom(UK) being a common destination to scout for better employment opportunities. Due to these developments, there is an increase in court cases dealing with applications for custody and guardianship, which are mostly meant to allow those emigrating to travel with their minor children for an indefinite stay. Even with documents of sole custody, many visa applications have been rejected by the UK Home Office. One major reason for rejection is that the parent making the application (Applicant parent) has failed to prove that they have sole responsibility over the minor's upbringing. In this article, we briefly assess what sole responsibility entails in the context of immigration law in the United Kingdom.   Where a parent is already a resident in the UK and intends to bring their minor child along for an indefinite stay, they can do so under 3 broad circumstan...

  In 2021, Zimbabwe became one of many African countries that have enacted a Cyber and Data Protection Act [Chapter 12:07] ‘hereinafter referred to as the Act’ . The object of the Act which is set out in section 2 is to “increase cyber security in order to build confidence and trust in the secure use of information and communication technologies by data controllers, their representatives, and data subjects” . Data that has been considered by various people to be the new gold brings to the fore issues associated with personal security and privacy. Understandably so for obvious reasons. On a daily basis, we share personal data and at times without understanding the implications of our actions. For example, social media applications like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin may request access to one’s personal data as a precondition to accessing certain features of the application. Likewise, our growing appetite to advance personal security measures has seen a gradual increase in the use...

Introduction Earlier this year, the tussles between the competing rights and interests of lessors and tenants were settled by the High Court in favour of lessors.  Commercial and residential tenants both enjoyed the benefit of what is called statutory tenancy before the judgment by Justice Chinamora in Elnour United Engineering Group (Pvt) Ltd v Minister of Industry & Ors HH 81-23.  Statutory tenancy occurs when a tenant whose lease agreement has expired continues to perform all obligations (eg paying rent) regarding the expired lease. Under such circumstances, they are allowed to remain on the property despite the fact that their lease has expired. Before the judgment, the lessor could only evict the tenant with a court order after serving 3 months’ notice of eviction on the tenant. In addition, the lessor was required to justify repossessing the property on acceptable grounds for instance breach of the lease agreement, the need to do renovations, wanting to use the ...

By Lincoln Majogo. For avid football fans like myself, the name Hakim Ashraf is a very familiar name. He is one of the famous faces of Morocco, that took the country's national team to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2022 after defeating Portugal in the quarter-finals of the competition. Recently, social media has been awash with his pictures whilst kissing his mother with captions titled “genius”. This follows false rumors in which his wife allegedly filed for divorce seeking to claim 50% of his property only to be informed by the court that the football star has no properties registered in his name. It was alleged that a significant chunk of his wealth goes to his mother. Although the wife has reportedly denied filing for divorce, this incident has raised an interesting legal dynamic that has resulted in various interpretations regarding how the courts would handle such a case. The assumption is that the footballer was simply using his mother as a scheme to prevent his wife...

The recent decision of the High Court of Zimbabwe which upheld the lawfulness of corporal punishment on minors by parents and guardians has brought to the fore the discussion on whether corporal punishment should be abolished. For some of us who were raised in a conservative Christian family, Proverbs 13:24 is a familiar verse in our hearts. It says ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ and for people like us who constantly committed acts of misconduct whilst growing up, our parents made sure that the rod would pay regular visits on our buttocks, legs, hands, and thighs. Of course, there are instances where it went out of hand but l can gladly say the fear of the rod, kept me out of harm’s way. The recent High Court judgment in State v Yeukai Graham Mutero HH178-23 has confirmed that corporal punishment or rather beating up children as a way of disciplining them by parents or guardians is legal. In this case, the accused who was the mother of the deceased administered corporal punish...

    Lending and borrowing credit are vital activities for the economy and so are transactions that create debts. In my previous articles, I have referred to the term “prescription” . This refers to the expiry of the right to claim a debt. This is to say, the time within which a creditor can claim and recover a debt. If the creditor fails to exercise this right, their claim becomes prescribed or expires subject to a few exceptions provided by the law. This short article will only deal with how the aforesaid prescription is activated. In Zimbabwe, the prescription of debts is governed by the Prescription Act [Chapter 8:11] . There are various prescription periods for different debts these being 30 years, 15 years, 6 years, and 3 years.  There are mainly 3 ways in which prescription is initiated and these are; ·          When the debt becomes due. This is to say where there is an agreement that specifies when the debtor is oblige...

The reservation of the 8 th of March every year to commemorate Women’s International Day remains relevant in celebrating achievements by women and the continued pursuit of gender equity and equality. This day isn’t just about celebrating women for television purposes or for social media mileage. This day has everything to do with reflecting on current socio-economic issues still affecting women and creating solutions to solve these existing problems. As l was pondering on this very important day, my mind couldn’t resist reflecting on adultery damages in light of the ongoing Women's Day celebrations. My natural inclination is that today creates a special occasion to reignite the discussion on the continued relevance of adultery damages in Zimbabwe in light of the vast evidence that the delict perpetuates damaging stereotypes against mostly women.  Adultery occurs when a third party knowingly has sexual intercourse with a married spouse in a monogamous civil marriage. The innoce...

Introduction Within a fortnight, the High Court of Zimbabwe has handed 2 dissenting judgments on a similar issue. One which I shall refer to as the Mafusire judgment (Judgment handed down by Justice Mafusire in Stone Beattie v CABS & Ors HH 118-23) and another, which I shall refer to as the Chinamora judgment (Judgment handed down by Justice Chinamora in Duncan Hugh Cocksedge v CABS & Ors HH 152-23) . Both judgments relate to the right to withdraw United States dollar deposits held in bank accounts before 22 February 2019 in that currency. The Applicants in both matters insist on withdrawing their money in United States dollars(USD), the currency in which they deposited their funds, and not in local currency at the rate of one as to one with the Zimbabwean dollar. The chief grievance of the Applicants stems from various laws that were passed by the Government of Zimbabwe from the period 2015-2019 whose effects were to convert USD balances held in banks before 22 Februar...

Introduction Penelope Douglas Stone and Richard Harold Stuart Beattie (Hereinafter referred to as Stone Beattie) were two of the many Zimbabweans who were affected by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Directives (R)T 120/18 , later supported by SI 33 of 2019 and Finance Act 2 of 2019 whose effect was to convert United States dollar balances held in bank accounts to Zimbabwean dollars depending on the source of funds. The RBZ and the Ministry of Finance passed a number of laws in which all assets and liabilities which were expressed in United States dollars (Referred to as the USD) before 22 February 2019 were converted to local currency at the rate of one as to one with the Zimbabwean dollar. The implication of the new policy and law was that if you had 1(one) United States dollar in your account, that became equivalent to 1(one) Zimbabwean dollar.  RBZ claimed that it has an international facility to ensure that the value remained one-as-to-one with the United States dollar. ...

  Introduction Joint ownership of matrimonial property has numerous implications in law. For instance, a couple may register matrimonial property as co-owners, and later on, one party decides to alienate their share forcing the rest of the family to cohabit with strangers in the same house. What does the law say regarding such circumstances where one party acts recklessly in disposing of their share in a matrimonial property without the consent of the other to the detriment of the family? This piece unpacks the law on the subject matter beforehand. Brief facts of the matter In the Ishemunyoro case, the Appellant, a woman who worked for the government was offered a rent-to-buy option with respect to certain immovable property in Sinoia Township. For convenience, we shall refer to this as the property. She would pay the purchase price through monthly salary deductions from her employer ie the Government. The property was then registered in the names of the Appellant and her hu...

  The ongoing social media hysteria surrounding the Dominican Convent drug saga has set social media ablaze with mixed emotions and reactions from the public. For context, Dominican Convent High School, an elite school in Harare recently expelled 8 female students who were found guilty of contravening the school’s drug policy during an Upper Six leadership camp held in Nyanga this month. Some have also used this incident to publicly demand the government to legalize the use of recreational drugs. What is clear, however, is that stakeholders have been playing the blame game with various analysts blaming the government for ineffective policies in curbing rampant drug abuse, while others blame parents for not doing as much in protecting children from drug and substance abuse.  We must appreciate that the drug and substance predicament is complex. Equally this incident should have been the moral authority to leverage a multi-sectoral approach that brings various players t...

                                                                             Introduction   The Labour Amendment Bill [HB 14-21] (hereinafter referred to as the Bill] has raised employees’ hopes around the country . Several positive changes come with it. It is the changes regarding maternity leave that are the subject of today’s piece. The Bill undoubtedly makes life easier for female employees by scrapping off preconditions to claiming paid maternity leave. These changes include the ability to claim paid maternity leave more than three (3) times from an employer. Also, female employees will no longer be required to have worked for at least one year to claim paid maternity leave. A second thoughtful look at the Bill however suggests that the proposed...