The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe has set a stunning precedent in the high profile case pitting former NMB Bank CEO Julius Makoni and his wife Pauline, ruling that she could enforce a divorce judgment granted by a UK court and be entitled to properties in Zimbabwe.
The case also pitted Advocate Thabani Mpofu who represented Pauline Mutasa and Professor Welshman Ncube and Advocate Lewis Uriri who represented Julius Makoni.
The ruling overturned a 2023 decision made by the High Court that had said foreign court orders could not be enforced in Zimbabwe.
At the time Pauline wanted a divorce and financial settlement granted by the High Court of Justice (Family Division) in England in December 2014 to be enforced in Zimbabwe.
But Makoni, a former Anglican Bishop of Manicaland, said the UK ruling would entitle Pauline to the couple’s matrimonial home in Harare and render him “homeless” something local laws would not permit.
The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe has now made a unanimous ruling that “the English Court applied equitable principles similar to those applicable in Zimbabwe.”
The apex court also blamed Makoni for failing to make full and frank disclosures of his assets during the UK proceedings.
The couple married in 1983 and lived together in both Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom before their separation in 2010.
According to a February 2015 report in the Church Times; Makoni fathered a child by another woman in 1996 during the course of his marriage.
Pauline filed for divorce in 2011 and after the proceedings in which both were represented by “highly experienced specialist solicitors and barristers” their divorce was finalised in December 2014.
Pauline was given the matrimonial home in London, the Harare home at 5 Rietfontein Close in Chisipite, and a stand in Chishawasha Hills.
Makoni was awarded other properties and offshore accounts, including his interest in the Cornerstone Trust and shares in NMBZ, which the court found he had attempted to conceal.
According to reports he currently lives in the Harare home that his ex-wife wants to take possession of. nehandaradio
