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Former CIO boss demands $50k for defamation from in-laws

News
Former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss, Retired Brigadier-General Elisha Muzonzini, is claiming $50 000 from his in-laws for defamation, following a nasty wrangle between himself and Sydney Nzenza over the estate of the late diplomat, Charity Nzenza.

Former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss, Retired Brigadier-General Elisha Muzonzini, is claiming $50 000 from his in-laws for defamation, following a nasty wrangle between himself and Sydney Nzenza over the estate of the late diplomat, Charity Nzenza.

Staff Reporter

bonyongwe

Charity, who worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 29 years, was Muzonzini’s second wife and died in May 2011.

According to summons dated June 3, 2016 under case 5639/16, issued against Nzenza family head, Sydney, Muzonzini is suing his in-laws for defamation after the former allegedly wrote a letter to Police Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri, requesting him to intervene in the estate wrangle, accusing the former CIO chief of abusing his powers.

“The plaintiff’s (Muzonzini) claim is for: Payment of the sum of $50 000 being damages for defamation of character suffered by the plaintiff as a result of defamatory letters authored, published and distributed by the defendant (Nzenza),” read the summons issued by Nyika Kanengoni and Partners legal practitioners.

According to the summons, the Nzenza family reportedly wrote to Chihuri and other senior government officials, including CIO boss, Happyton Bonyongwe, accusing Muzonzini of threatening their lives for allegedly questioning his ability to handle the estate.

According to the Nzenza family, Muzonzini was not married to their daughter, but co-habited with her and was fraudulently handling the estate and abusing his position as a former CIO boss to engage in corrupt activities.

The letter, dated March 15, 2016, goes on to list under the heading, Major items missing from inventory, property which Muzonzini is alleged to have fraudulently excluded from the administration of the estate for his benefit.

“The entire contents of the letter authored, published and circulated by the defendant are false, scandalous, hurtful, malicious, wrongful and defamatory of the plaintiff in that they impute, and were intended by the defendant to impute and were understood by the recipients to whom they were distributed, to impute that the plaintiff is corrupt, has engaged in criminal activities and that he has abused/stolen funds from his late wife’s estate …” read the summons.

Sydney, the defendant, confirmed receiving the summons.

“I received the summons in June, but I haven’t responded to them. It is a stalemate. I approached every office, including the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, to deal with the issue, but nothing materialised. We will see as time goes on,” he said.