African Dream houseboat owner sued




A luxury house boat is parked along Gwanda road near Ascot shopping centre in Khumalo suburb on its way to Victoria Falls from from Harare were it was manufactured. The boat comprising twenty en suit rooms, a swimming pool with tennis courts took a week to arrive in Bulawayo from Harare.....Pic By Dennis Mudzamiri....
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THE boat was a darling to many as it was towed around the country, but stuff it, someone didn’t like it at all.

Hence a Bulawayo man filed an application at the Bulawayo Civil Court demanding the immediate attachment of two horse trucks transporting the giant 300-seater boat house after they “accidentally” hit his motor vehicle.

Macleedale Alizhibowa filed an urgent ex-parte application claiming he wants the Messenger of Court to immediately attach the two horse trucks owned by a South African Company, Manline Mega and keep it in his possession until the company provide $2 035 as reasonable cost of repair of his motor vehicle.

Alizhibowa stated that as a result of the accident which occurred on 15 October 2017, just before Valley Shopping Centre, along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge road, 27 kilometres from Bulawayo, his vehicle, a Mazda 626 was intensively damaged on the rear right door and windscreen.

In his papers which he cited Manline Mega as the first respondent and one of the drivers Rich Matarutse as the second respondent, he said in the event that the trucks are driven outside the country he would suffer irreparable harm in that he will not be able to recover costs of repair for his damaged vehicle.

He insisted that the matter was urgent in that the two trucks destined for Namibia with the giant houseboat have been allowed by the police to proceed with their journey after the accident.

“The first respondent is the owner of two interconnected Manline South African registered horse trucks and is the transporter of a well-publicised huge boat house on transit from Harare, as publicised in the local press, destined for Namibia via Botswana through Kazungula Border Post. Because of the size and length of the trucks I shall refer to them as the train trucks.

“On 15 October 2017, I was driving my motor vehicle from Bulawayo to Zvishavane when I was involved in an accident with the train trucks.  On noticing the huge boat on the train trucks, I pulled off the road to my far left creating enough room for the same to pass through.

“While I was stationary as the train trucks approached I saw them swerving to my side. I tried to move on to the left but that was too late and there was not enough space for my vehicle and also that I was already in stationary position. The first and second horses did pass through but my vehicle was cut by the last part of the long trailer on the right back,” his affidavit reads in part.

He said the accident was solely and negligently caused by the two trucks drivers.

“They were driving at an excessive speed in the circumstance, they drove without due care and attention, they failed to take proper control of their train trucks, they failed to take evasive action when an accident was imminent and they failed to take full control of their heavily loaded train trucks thereby encroaching or swerving to me when I was stationary off the road.

“As a result my car was intensively damaged on the rear right door and pillar completely destroying the rear windscreen. Because of time I have already obtained two quotations from damages caused on my motor vehicle which are $1 930 and $2 140,” he said.

Alizhibowa further stated that what prompted him to file the ex-parte application was that the two respondents were not residents in Zimbabwe and do not have assets in the country adding that Matarutse though his name may appear to be originally from Zimbabwe he is resident in Durban, South Africa.

“I have therefore approached this Honourable Court through an ex-parte application to find jurisdiction by attaching the said train trucks until the finalisation of the matter.

“I want the Messenger of Court to immediately attach the said trucks and keep it in his possession unless the respondents provide security judicatum solvi a sum of $2 035 being reasonable cost of repair for my motor vehicle together with estimated costs in the sum of $7 00 to the Clerk of Court pending the finalisation of the matter”.

The application was however, Wednesday afternoon dismissed by Bulawayo magistrate Nyaradzo Ringisai on the basis that Alizhibowa did not state the value of the property he intends to attach.

“While the applicant has articulated so much on the particulars of the horse to be attached and the amount to be paid into court for security, he has not mentioned the value of the property he seeks attachment of. Further, the applicant has not attached pleadings of the intended claim and due to the above mentioned reasons the application is hereby dismissed. Each party to bear its own costs,” reads part of Ringisai’s ruling. – B-Metro