HARARE – Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Marian Chombo has been ordered to pay the full US$100,000 in legal fees accrued when she filed for divorce with former cabinet minister Ignatius Chombo through the services of Harare based law-firm Nyambirai and Mtetwa in 2011.

Marian Chombo has been avoiding to pay the money arguing, among other reasons, that the fee was too exorbitant.

She had suggested a reduced fee of US$50,000 as fair compensation.

Chombo also testified that she made efforts to settle the debt by offering stands received from the divorce settlement.

However, when the plaintiff attempted to verify the existence and value of the stands, it was discovered that the stand numbers provided did not correspond with any existing properties.

High Court judge Joel Mambara, in a recent judgement, ordered Chombo to pay the money although she had shown leniency.

“The defendant’s defences lack merit and are inconsistent wi8th her own admissions and actions,” said the judge.

“The acknowledgment of debt remains binding, and the court disregards the belatedly raised defences.

“Costs were claimed on the legal practitioner and client scale.

“Despite the spurious defences raised in her papers, she made an undertaking to pay for the excellent legal services rendered by the defendant once she was in a position to pay.

“In the result, the defendant is ordered to pay the plaintiff the sum of US$100,000 or its equivalent in Zimbabwean dollars at the prevailing exchange rate on the date of payment.

“The defendant is ordered to pay interest at the prescribed rate from the date of summons to the date of full payment. The defendant shall pay the costs of suit.”

Marian Chombo engaged the law firm in June 2011 to represent her in divorce proceedings that were already before the High Court under case number HC 4409/09.

The law firm, through Mtetwa, took over the matter and filed a notice of assumption of agency with the court.

The law firm provided extensive legal services, including attending numerous pre-trial conferences and filing various interlocutory applications.

“One such application was for the rescission of an order striking out the defendant’s plea and dismissing her counterclaim in the divorce action,” the court heard.

The plaintiff also successfully applied for the removal of the matter from the roll to allow for the determination of the rescission application.

These applications resulted in positive outcomes for the defendant.

Negotiations between the defendant and her then-husband led to a partial settlement of proprietary issues, which culminated in a consent order granted by the court on 31 August 2012.

The court heard that outstanding issues were however referred to trial, and Chombo continued to receive legal representation from the plaintiff.

Despite the extensive work done by the lawyers, Chombo did not make any payments towards the legal fees.

On 2 September 2014, she signed an acknowledgment of debt, agreeing to pay US$100,000 in two instalments of US$50,000 each.

The first instalment was due end of September 2014, and the balance was to be paid by mid-December 2014.

Chombo however, failed to honour this acknowledgment, prompting the law firm to issue summons in January 2024, seeking payment of the agreed amount.