Pretoria – Zimbabwe’s high court on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by vice president Constantino Chiwenga’s estranged wife Marry Mubaiwa Chiwenga, in which she was seeking to have access to her children and matrimonial home, pending the hearing of an appeal filed at the supreme court, state media reported.
The Herald newspaper reported that Chiwenga recently challenged high court judge, Justice Christopher Dube Banda’s ruling which gave Mubaiwa Chiwenga the green light to reside at the plush Borrowdale mansion and have access to the couple’s children and properties pending her trials on the numerous charges she is facing.
The charges include attempted murder, fraud, assault and money laundering.
High court judge Judith Mushore on Wednesday ruled that Mubaiwa Chiwenga’s arguments lacked weight.
“The application for leave to execute pending appeal is hereby dismissed. The order (Banda’s) will not be operational until the case is heard. The applicant is also ordered to pay the cost of the suit,” the judge was quoted by The Herald.
The supreme court appeal will be heard next month.
Last week, The Herald reported that the high court had upheld Chiwenga’s appeal for the variation of his estranged wife’s bail, particularly that she lives in a different house from him, and that she surrenders her diplomatic passport.
The judge agreed that Mubaiwa Chiwenga should not return to the couple’s matrimonial Borrowdale home, which was a condition of her bail in the earlier charges, until all matters before the courts were finalised.
In January, Mubaiwa Chiwenga was granted 50 000 Zimbabwe dollars bail pending trial on fraud, money laundering and foreign currency externalisation charges.
The 38-year-old former model also faces attempted murder charges after she allegedly tried to kill Chiwenga, 63, at a South African hospital.
She is taking on Zimbabwe’s feared former army general in a bitter divorce dispute before the courts in Harare.