Court recognizes ‘zombie’ wife’s marriage
A SOSHANGUVE woman who was accused at her late husband’s funeral wake of using muti to turn him into a zombie has obtained a North Gauteng High Court order declaring her his legitimate wife.
Judge Vivian Tlhapi granted an order declaring Patricia Chauke a legitimate wife of her late husband Amos Mthombeni, who died in a car accident in 2008.
The Department of Home Affairs was ordered to register Chauke’s customary marriage to Mthombeni. The Master of the High Court was directed to remove Mthombeni’s alleged other wife Lindiwe Mthimunye and his mother Dorah as executors of his estate.
Chauke said in court papers she was “terribly shocked” when she was introduced to Mthimunye as her husband’s wife when she went to claim pension benefits from his employer Putco. Until then she thought Mthimunye was her husband’s cousin.
Chauke said her husband had paid lobola for her, they had a traditional wedding and bought a house in Soshanguve where they lived together until his death. She had occupied the traditional mourning mattress at her late husband’s parental home while Mthimunye did not even attend his funeral.
Her problems started when her late husband’s mother and sister began swearing at her and accused her of using muti to turn her husband into a zombie.
Her husband’s family confiscated her and her children’s clothing telling her she had lost claim to her house. She insisted her husband’s mother and sister were in cahoots with Mthimunye to plot a fake marriage.
Judge Vivian Tlhapi granted an order declaring Patricia Chauke a legitimate wife of her late husband Amos Mthombeni, who died in a car accident in 2008.
The Department of Home Affairs was ordered to register Chauke’s customary marriage to Mthombeni. The Master of the High Court was directed to remove Mthombeni’s alleged other wife Lindiwe Mthimunye and his mother Dorah as executors of his estate.
Chauke said in court papers she was “terribly shocked” when she was introduced to Mthimunye as her husband’s wife when she went to claim pension benefits from his employer Putco. Until then she thought Mthimunye was her husband’s cousin.
Chauke said her husband had paid lobola for her, they had a traditional wedding and bought a house in Soshanguve where they lived together until his death. She had occupied the traditional mourning mattress at her late husband’s parental home while Mthimunye did not even attend his funeral.
Her problems started when her late husband’s mother and sister began swearing at her and accused her of using muti to turn her husband into a zombie.
Her husband’s family confiscated her and her children’s clothing telling her she had lost claim to her house. She insisted her husband’s mother and sister were in cahoots with Mthimunye to plot a fake marriage.
Mthimunye denied Chauke was a legitimate wife, claiming Chauke was not at the Mthombeni family home during the alleged celebration.
Judge Tlhapi said Chauke’s DVD of the celebration proved a traditional wedding ceremony had indeed taken place and that Chauke had entered into a customary marriage.
~citizen.co.za
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