Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri is battling to fend off the onus of compensating the family of a Harare resident, who was killed six years ago by some soldiers, who were suppressing an anti-government protest.

In April 2025, High Court Judge Justice Maxwell Takuva ordered Muchinguri to pay US$122 235 to Suspicious Ziyambi, the widow of Ishmael Kumire, a Harare resident, who worked as a vendor and who died from gunshot injuries after being shot by soldiers on 1 August 2018 in central Harare, where they also killed five other Harare residents, while clamping down on an anti-government protest, when demonstrators protested against delays in announcing the results of presidential elections held on 30 July 2018.

Ziyambi was assisted by Kudzayi Kadzere of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to sue Muchinguri after the killing of her husband.

Justice Takuva’s order came after he ruled that the killing of Kumire by soldiers on 1 August 2018 was unlawful. Out of the US$122 235, Justice Takuva said US$112 236 is for damages for loss of support for Ziyambi & her minor children while US$10 000 is for nervous shock & trauma.

Now, Muchinguri wants the High Court to rescind Justice Takuva’s judgment & refer the matter to the Registrar of the High Court to set it down for hearing as an opposed matter.

In her application, the Defence Minister, who argues that she only became aware of the issuance of the default judgment on 13 August 2025 after she was served with a copy by Ziyambi’s lawyers, blamed her legal practitioner from the Attorney-General’s Office, for not attending trial proceedings on 29 October 2024.

She also claimed that this could have been a result of challenges encountered on the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS), where some notifications for set down of matters may not have been sent to given email addresses.

Muchinguri charged that she cannot be penalised for the “sins” of her legal practitioner from the Attorney-General’s Office & also disputed the quantum of the damages claimed, saying it is exorbitant & unreasonable.

Her application is yet to be set down for hearing.

Zwnews