It cannot be a proper exercise of the court’s discretion to allow a plaintiff to reopen his case, and to amend his summons and declaration where such efforts are designed to ward off an application for absolution at the close of the plaintiff’s case.
What happened is this.
On 16 November 2016 the plaintiff issued summons seeking the following relief:
“(a) Delivery and transfer of ownership by the first defendant to the plaintiff of the residential property being a house number 93 Rotten Row Road/Cnr Robert Mugabe Road, Harare.
(b) should the first defendant fail to comply with the para... More
The appellant was charged with the crime of fraud as defined in s 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] together with one Stanley Musendo (“Musendo”). During the trial the appellant was the second accused. Despite their pleas of not guilty, they were both convicted ascharged and each of them was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment of which 2 years imprisonment was suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. A further 4 years imprisonment was suspended on condition that the accused make restitution on or before 30 June 2014 leaving aneffective 4 years imprisonment... More
It appears to me that an accused person who, during a criminal trial, takes the court into his confidence, and confesses to an act or omission constituting an essential element of a crime, may not genuinely appeal against the trial court’s finding that he committed such act or that he made such an omission unless the appeal takes the form of retracting the admission on any valid legal ground. The admission means that there will be no dispute on the issue between the State and the accused to be resolved by the court. See S v Kwainona 1993 (2), ZLR... More
The applicants are husband and wife and the respondents are also husband and wife. On the 27th February 2012, the parties entered into an agreement of sale in terms of which the Applicants sold to Respondents an immovable property ,namely, 2200 square meters of Lot 48, Marlborough Township of Marlborough held under Deed of Transfer number 1187/2003. Due to some challenges with the sale transaction on the 17th June 2016 the respondents sued the applicants in HC 6185/16 seeking an order confirming the cancellation of the agreement of sale and ordering the Applicants to reimburse the purchase price of US$... More
The applicant was dismissed from employment in terms of the Labour Relations Act [Chapter 28:01] as amended. He is alleged to have committed an act inconsistent with the fulfillment of the express or implied conditions of his contract of employment and fraud. More
