Tanga Wekwa SandoTHE High Court has settled township jazz guru Tanga Wekwa Sando’s divorce to his estranged wife Irene Wairimu 21 years after the couple separated.
The proceedings were heard and determined before Justice Erica Ndewere, who passed an order for sharing of the couple’s four houses, two in Highfield, one in Glen Lorne and another at Wansford Court, Harare.
The Paidamoyo hitmaker retained number 2960 Highfield Township as his sole property and got 60 percent of the value of 10230 Highfield Township while Wairimu got 40 percent.
Wairimu retained number 33 Wansford Court as her sole property and 70 percent of 304 Glen Road, Glen Lorne while Sando got 30 percent of the value.
The court ruled that the two properties in Highfield and Glen Lorne would be evaluated for the parties to ascertain the values awarded to them in monetary terms.
Sando has the first option to buy out Wairimu from 10230 Highfield by paying the equivalent of her 40 percent value within four months of issuance of the order, failure of which the option would be given to his ex-wife to buy out his 60 percent.
The same was granted for the Glen Lorne property.
The court heard how Sando customarily married Wairimu in Kenya in 1987 after meeting her in the United States of America when the parties were, 25, and 17, respectively.
“They arrived in Zimbabwe in 1988 with just two suitcases and a baby,” reads the opening statement of the second paragraph of Ndewere’s judgment.
When they moved to Zimbabwe their union was solemnised before setting up businesses in the pharmaceutical and arts industries registered as Medicare (Pvt) Ltd and Tega Tega Communications in 1997.
However, their marriage had been turbulent since the early 90s and Wairumu sought intervention of Sando’s extended family and a meeting was convened in Highfield on April 4, 1999 where he declared that he was no longer interested in the union and bid his children farewell before walking out.
Wairimu later left for the United Kingdom with their two minor children in 2002 before Sando issued divorce summons against her in July 2015, saying she had deserted their matrimonial home — a claim she vehemently denied.