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| National |
| Ex-wife evicts husband |
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by
Nation Reporter, 30 April 2006
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06:35:34
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As if in adherence to the proposed domestic violence bill which, among other things, allows spouses to evict each other from homes a man has been left homeless in Chilomoni Township in Blantyre after his long estranged wife evicted him from the plot they jointly acquired soon after their marriage in the 1970s.
Wayesi Rupiya who hails from Ntcheu is also said to have been arrested by police after the wife quickly sold the plot and accused him of trespassing.
Records however indicate that on two occasions the High Court in Blantyre ruled in favour of Rupiya and disallowed the actions of his former wife, Betty Machila.
Rupiya’s second born son with his second wife, Phillip, said in an interview his father married in Zimbabwe, came and settled in Malawi in 1972 and acquired the piece of land in contention in 1976.
“The marriage between my father and my step mother did no last. She divorced him in 1980 and married another man.”
He added: “13 years after the divorce, the Zimbabwean wife started claiming that the land was solely hers and sold it to another person who evicted us despite the court ruling against her action,” Philip said
High Court judge Anaclet Chipeta in an inter partes hearing in 2000 ruled that there was lack of evidence to support Machila’s claim that she owned the land singularly, wondering why it took her 20 years after she divorced Rupiya to claim ownership of the land.
“Further there is a conspicuous vacuum in the affidavit of the applicant regarding the coming into being of the trespass herein complained of. As it is, there is no effort on the part of the plaintiff to explain how, after the divorce in 1980, the defendant continued to reside on the property until now, even 20 years after the divorce. I am convinced the plaintiff was mistaken in selecting this procedure in seeking an order for possession of the property in question. I accordingly dismiss her originating summons with costs,” ruled Chipeta.
Rupiya is said to be launching a strong appeal against his former wife’s actions.
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