Tonderai Mugabe, a man claiming to be the secret son of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, has dropped his inheritance lawsuit in the High Court after a failed attempt to challenge the former President’s estate.
Tonderai sought recognition as a legitimate heir to the Mugabe estate, naming Bona Mugabe, the late President’s daughter and the estate’s executor, as the defendant in his legal action. He also requested access to Mugabe’s death certificate, intending to invoke provisions of the Administration of Estates Act.
However, his case encountered significant legal hurdles, including missing the six-week deadline to challenge the Master of the High Court’s decision. Justice Chitapi dismissed his reliance on the Mugabe surname, ruling that merely adopting the name did not grant legal status as a descendant. Realizing the case’s weakness, Tonderai’s lawyer requested a brief adjournment, after which he decided to withdraw the suit and agreed to pay legal costs. Justice Chitapi described the case as “fatally defective” and accepted its withdrawal, noting that pursuing the lawsuit further would have been a waste of time and resources.
The defence, led by Bona Mugabe’s lawyer, Mr Chinake, argued that the estate had already been finalized and distributed, leaving no room for reopening it. Additionally, Tonderai’s evidence, including DNA results and a birth certificate, was rejected as unreliable and not meeting the standards required by the Civil Evidence Act.
Tonderai had claimed to have been born in 1977 at the Chimoio base in Mozambique during the liberation war and alleged that his mother, Hilda Maeka, had a secret relationship with Robert Mugabe. Despite these claims, the court found his evidence insufficient, effectively ending his legal challenge to the Mugabe legacy.