BY CHARLES LAITON

CONFEDERATION of Zimbabwe Retailers Association (CZRA) president Denford Mutashu has finally divorced wife Nomusa Memory Ruvazhe after High Court judge Justice Alpheus Chitakunye nullified the couple’s marriage 12 months after the couple went on separation due to irreconcilable differences.

On April 30 this year, Mutashu petitioned the High Court seeking a court order to nullify his five-year marriage with his estranged wife, saying he had since lost love and affection towards her.

“The marriage relationship between the parties (Mutashu and Ruvazhe) has irretrievably broken down to the extent that there is no longer any reasonable prospect of reconciliation …,” Mutashu said in his declaration, adding: “… During the subsistence of the marriage, three children were born … The defendant (Ruvazhe) did not adopt the plaintiff’s surname.”

Ruvazhe did not oppose the termination of the couple’s holy matrimony, but rather consented to the move, which was then sanctioned by the High Court on Thursday this week.

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“The plaintiff (Mutashu) and defendant (Ruvazhe) both agreed that the marriage has irretrievably broken down and consent to the granting of a decree of divorce subject to the terms herein alluded to being incorporated into the final order, which this honourable court may be inclined to grant,” both parties said in their consent paper filed at the High Court.

As regard the custody of the couple’s two minor children, the parties agreed that custody shall be awarded to Mutashu, while his wife shall have access to the minors during the first two weeks of school holidays and on alternate weekends.

“Plaintiff will provide maintenance for the minor children until each child reaches the age of 18 or become self-supportive, whichever occurs first. There shall be no maintenance obligation by either party to the other,” the parties agreed, adding that each party shall retain movable property currently in his or her possession as his or her sole property.