By Fungai Lupande
HARARE- There was drama at the Harare Civil Courts yesterday as people jostled to get a glimpse of a woman going by the name Joyce Mujuru who had come to claim maintenance from her estranged husband.
People had seen the name displayed on a court appearance roll outside and apparently thought the case involved Vice-President Joice Mujuru. The Vice-President’s name is spelt with an “I” in place of the “Y”, but that distinction could not be made when the name “Joyce Mujuru” was called out in Court 10.
The expectant crowd that had gathered after word spread on account of the appearance roll was, however, disappointed when the woman who stood up strapping a baby on her back turned out to be an unknown.
The woman, Joyce Mujuru, wanted a garnish order against her husband, one Douglas Maposa, for failing to pay US$200 maintenance fees per month. She told the court that Maposa was failing to pay US$200 maintenance hence she wanted him to stop depositing the money into her account.
“He is failing to give me the money so I want him to stop depositing the money into my account, instead the money should be deducted on his salary,” she said. Maposa opposed the application, indicating that he cannot afford the money he was ordered to pay for maintenance.
“I cannot have my salary deducted because I will be left with nothing. The salary is not even above US$300 and I have another family to take care of. I was only notified of the garnish order now in court,” he said.
Magistrate Miriam Banda granted the garnish order in favour of Mujuru and advised Maposa to make an application at the High Court if the money was too much.
