HARARE – Bailiffs have attached the property of author Petina Gappah worth US$14,700 after she lost a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Fadzayi Mahere.
Mahere was awarded US$18,000 in damages by the Harare High Court in August after Gappah, writing on X, formerly Twitter, made a series of defamatory statements including that the former Mt Pleasant MP did not qualify for enrolment at the University of Zimbabwe but was accepted only because her father, then a permanent secretary in government, exerted his influence; that she wrote the essay that enabled Mahere to be admitted into Cambridge University for her Master’s Degree and that Mahere tried to seduce her ex-partner.
Gappah issued a public statement and apology in May saying she wished to “fully and unequivocally retract all the statements” she made about Mahere and offered to donate to a charity of Mahere’s choosing “in order to bring a conclusive end to the legal action.”
Mahere said the apology was not genuine and pressed on with her claim of US$50,000, before a judge awarded her US$18,000.
Documents seen by ZimLive show that the Sheriff visited Gappah’s Highlands property and attached several items including a refrigerator and dining suite on November 6. The value of the property fell short of US$18,000.
It is the latest chapter in a “long, arduous and acrimonious” legal battle between the two lawyers, as Justice Joseph Martin Mafusire observed in his judgement.
Justice Mafusire found that Gappah’s defence to the “vile and persistent” defamation was laced with “bitterness and malice” as he ruled in Mahere’s favour.
Gappah, an international trade lawyer, is the author of two novels, Out of Darkness, Shining Light; and The Book of Memory; and two short story collections, Rotten Row and An Elegy for Easterly.
Former Mt Pleasant MP Mahere is an advocate in Zimbabwe’s superior courts and a former spokesperson of the Citizens Coalition for Change.
FURTHER READING: Fadzayi Mahere v Petina Gappah Judgement
