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Zimbabwe: Peace Order Sought
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Harare
A HARARE woman is seeking a peace order against a construction company which failed to build her a house forcing her to finish building on her own.
Mrs Betty Kanyuchi (70) bought the house in Prospect, Waterfalls from Champion Construction Private Limited under the Homelink Scheme.
She paid for the house in full with the assistance of her children in the Diaspora and the firm was supposed to complete the construction in six months in terms of the agreement. But the firm allegedly failed to complete the house within the stipulated period.
Through her lawyer Mr Succeed Takundwa of Takundwa and Associates, Mrs Kanyuchi wrote to the firm's managing director Ms Elizabeth Chidavaenzi, who is listed as the defendant in the case, to finish building within 30 days as agreed.
This did not happen, prompting Mrs Kanyuchi to write to the firm advising them that she would finish building by herself and claim a refund for the expenses she would have incurred.
Mrs Kanyuchi had obtained a court order against the company after it tried to dispossess her of the house after she refused to top up the initial price.
The High Court ruled that the property she had bought was hers and the agreement of sale was valid and legally binding on Champion Construction (Pvt) Ltd.
Mrs Kanyuchi took Ms Chidavaenzi to court seeking a peace order after a group of six youths allegedly employed by Champions Construction went to her house and removed roofing tiles she had put up.
"On April 26 (Mrs) Chidavaenzi representing the company came to the premises with six youths including one Farai Tsatsa who has since been arrested and stated that Tsunami had come," said Mr Takundwa.
"They ordered all the workers numbering three at the time to stop work or risk being assaulted."
The lawyer further claimed that the six climbed on the roof and removed the tiles of his client throwing them down and breaking them.
The damaged tiles, Mr Takundwa said, had an estimated value of $500 billion. He said the case was currently under police investigation.
Mr Takundwa said the hearing of the peace order, which was strenuously opposed, was held yesterday at the Civil Court and judgment was reserved to Thursday next week.
In her counter- arguments Ms Chidavaenzi said the relief sought by Ms Kanyuchi was unfounded and should be dismissed for lack of merit.
She said Ms Kanyuchi's papers were fatally defective and the application for the peace order should be dismissed because it was improperly filed.
"The complainant makes no reference to a sworn statement which statement was not attached to the summons," she said in her papers filed with the court.
Ms Chidavaenzi further argued that Ms Kanyuchi failed to specify the relief she sought.
"As a result the papers before this court are non-compliant with the rules relating to applications of this nature. The court has no information upon which it can make a sound judgment," she said.
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But Mr Takundwa dismissed Ms Chidavaenzi's claims saying she was being economic with the truth because he submitted the affidavit to the court at the hearing of the matter.
He said the argument presented by Ms Chidavaenzi demonstrated basic misunderstanding of the law saying it did not need his client to be present when the peace was breached at her house.
Mr Thomas Nyawo of Mandizha and Company is representing Ms Chidavaenzi.
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