Staff Writer
Business mogul Frank Buyanga Sadiqi who is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the mother of his five-year-old child, has alleged that he is a victim of corruption from various Government departments.
This follows the High Court order on March 16 2020, which compelled Buyanga to return the boy which he allegedly forcibly took, to Chantelle Muteswa within 24 hours, a decision which his local defence team is appealing against.
In a statement prepared by his South African attorney William Wilcock, Buyanga further claims that his failure to get help from authorities after Muteswa had kidnapped the boy on March 11, 2020 from a police station has shown how much they (authorities) are captured in the matter.
“Mr Sadiqi has been a victim of corruption from various Government departments in Zimbabwe, which is evident from the fact that after Ms Chantelle Muteswa kidnapped his son from a police station on 11 March 2020, no authorities, police or court officials were willing to assist Mr Sadiqi in locating his son or attempting to have him returned.
“Complaints were filed at numerous police stations against Ms Muteswa, yet nothing resulted from these complaints.
“In 2019 Mr Sadiqi was granted temporary custody of his son by the Children’s Court after Ms Muteswa was unable to provide safe and suitable accommodation for the child, yet she was still able to disappear with Mr Sadiqi’s son with no authorities assisting Mr Sadiqi in recovering his son,” read the statement.
It was further added that Buyanga who won custody of the child in a landmark ruling on March 19, 2020, has also since written to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and Judicial Service Commission lodging complaints over the handling of his son’s matter.
One of the complaints is against High Court Judge Justice Manzunzu who gave the order for Buyanga to return the child within 24 hours.
“We find that the fact that the Honourable Judge did not recuse himself from this matter to be peculiar and unearthical, especially in light of the fact that there was already a complaint lodged against him by a party to the hearing.
“We are further surprised that this order was made whilst Mr Sadiqi is outside of the jurisdiction of the court, which puts into question the authority and effectiveness of the order.
“It is highly irregular for a court to grant such an order where the Respondent is already outside of the court’s jurisdiction,” added the statement.
It was added that they hope the appeal by Buyanga will be successful and that his complaints will be taken seriously.
