Last week a Zimbabwe High Court cancelled a wedding between a UK based woman’s husband and her best friend who is employed as a nurse in Harare.
The High Court also ordered the pastor who officiated over the offending marriage to deregister it.
Sate media report that High Court judge Justice Alphas Chitakunye was not too pleased with Pastor Ritiya of Ambassadors For Christ Ministries for solemnising the marriage between Harare Central Hospital nurse Mavis Sibanda and Lesley Amos.
The judge was surprised that Pastor Ritiya has gone on to solemnize the marriage despite the fact that Lesley’s wife Dorothy had objected to the wedding through her relatives who are based in Zimbabwe.
Justice Chitakunye warned marriage officers to take objections seriously and to seek proper legal guidance where they are not sure.
Said Justice Chitakunye in nis final ruling:
Dorothy had not been given a divorce token and thus her marriage to Lesley was still valid when he wedded Mavis. As such the marriage of Lesley and Mavis is not valid as it was solemnized when he was still married to Dorothy in terms of the law.
…marriage must be taken seriously and when there are impediments or potential impediments it is astute to firstly attend to the impediments.
As this involves a change of status, it is imperative that marriage officers take objections seriously and obtain proper legal guidance before proceeding with solemnisation of the marriage…this should have guided the marriage officer not to ignore protestations from the applicant.
state media
