Businessman claims judge intimidated in custody case

The cross-border custody battle between flamboyant Sandton-based businessman Frank Buyanga and his ex-girlfriend, which has seen Zimbabwe's first family drawn into the fray, has turned ugly, according to a report in The Star. Buyanga has reported Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Collins, to Zimbabwe’s JSC, accusing him of ‘intimidating judges.’ The businessman has been fighting to bring his four-year-old son to SA in a court battle that pitted him against the child’s mother, Chantelle Muteswa. He claims that Muteswa is in a relationship with Collins and accuses the President’s son of influencing judges; allegations that Muteswa has refuted. Buyanga wrote to Zimbabwe’s JSC complaining about a judge, who was presiding over the matter, saying he was no longer comfortable with the judge handling the case because he had been communicating with some members of the Mnangagwa family. He claimed Justice Jacob Manzunzu, who allegedly issued an adverse judgment against him in 2019, had been phoned at least 15 times by a member of the ‘Mnangagwa family’ before the delivery of the judgment. Moreover, Buyanga claimed that in recent days, one Dylish Nguwaya, described as a ‘close companion’ to the Mnangagwa family, has been communicating with the same judge, as has one Mallan Zorodzai Chiswa ‘who also has links to the Muteswa family. ‘Whilst I have the greatest respect and trust in Justice Manzunzu, too many adverse inferences can be drawn which affect his neutrality over the issue.’