FORMER Education minister Aeneas Chigwedere will today appear at the Marondera Civil Court to answer to a witchcraft charge levelled against him by his son, Magwiza.
By Jairos Saunyama
The matter had erroneously been filed at the Harare Civil Court in December, but was rejected on the grounds that Harare courts had no jurisdiction to hear matters from Marondera, unless there were special circumstances to justify such an arrangement.
Harare magistrate, Brighton Pabwe declined to preside over the matter, saying Chigwedere’s son ought to have filed the application in Marondera, where both parties are permanently based.
But Magwiza said he felt his application would be better held in Harare, because he feared his father would use his political muscle to influence the outcome of the court case in Marondera, where he was once Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister.
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Chigwedere is being sued together with his wife, Emilia Zharare, Magwiza’s stepmother.
In his court papers, Magwiza wants the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, cited as third respondents, to deal with the goblins allegedly kept by his father to torment other family members.
Chigwedere, in his initial opposing affidavit filed by his lawyer Tendai Masawi last month, denied the witchcraft allegations and dismissed Magwiza as a mental patient, who needed psychiatric treatment.
The former Cabinet minister said the witchcraft charge was frivolous and a waste of the court’s time.