Flamboyant businessman Phillip Chiyangwa recently told the High Court that he is paying maintenance for more than 50 children, a revelation that has left many in shock and disbelief.
According to H-Metro Chiyangwa divulged the existence of more than 50 of his children during a High Court appeal against a $40 000 maintenance order for his two sons with ex-girlfriend Pamela Rusere.
In June a Harare magistrate ordered Chiyangwa to pay $40 000 maintenance for his minor children aged 13 and 7 years.
The businessman was also ordered to pay school fees of R49 172.83 per term.
However, Chiyangwa appealed against this ruling claiming that he earns $70 000 per month and that he pays maintenance for over 50 kids.
“He put his monthly earnings at a paltry $70 000 a month while conceding to sitting on many boards.
“He did not divulge the income from these on the basis of the income being independent on dividends.
“He purported to have fathered 50 children and mentioned some for whom he pays maintenance in very cursory terms…the record does not show any evidence he produced in this regard apart from the names of the mothers of the children,” reads the High Court’s findings.
The High Court, through a joint decision by Justice Webster Chinamora and Justice Emy Tsanga, dismissed Chiyangwa’s appeal.
“The appeal is dismissed with regards to the claim for maintenance in the sum of $40 000 a month for the two minor children.
“The appeal is partly upheld with regards to the payment of school fees directly to the school in foreign currency in that order of the lower court is altered in paragraph (b) to read as follows;
“The respondent be and is hereby ordered to pay termly expenses being school fees for the minor children in the sum of R49 172.83 which shall be deposited into Rusere’s local bank account being Standard Chartered Bank, account number …. at the auction-rate as at the day of payment.
“The order shall be with effect from the first term of 2020,” reads parts of the judgment.
In his High Court appeal, Chiyangwa challenged the magistrates ruling on three main grounds:
The businessman said the magistrate had erred by ordering him to pay maintenance for his children when he was responsible enough to maintain them.
Chiyangwa questioned why he should pay school fees in Rands for children who supposedly live in Zimbabwe
He told the High Court that, in granting the $40 000 maintenance order, the magistrate’s court did not take into account the fact that he consistently took care of his children’s needs.
The mother of the children Pamela Rusere told the court that Chiyangwa was well aware that his children lived and went to school in South Africa.
She also claimed that the businessman paid for the kid’s school fees while they were in South Africa and they only came back to Zimbabwe after he stopped paying the school fees.
“It was not in dispute that the respondent moved to South Africa after going there on holiday in 2015. It was not in dispute that the appellant has previously paid some school fees for the two minors whilst they lived in South Africa.
“The reason why the respondent said she had come to Zimbabwe was that one of the children had been pulled out of school when Chiyangwa stopped paying fees,” reads the judgment.
In her submissions, Rusere said: “I assumed that respondent would fall out of his seasonal trance, but apparently, he went on like a drunken skunk until the minor children were dismissed from school, thus I had no option but to come to this honorable court to knock some sense in the respondent, but apparently he is hell-bent on attacking my character.”
