Zvikomborero Parafini
GOSPEL musician, Ivy Kombo, fears she could lose her two kids to the Social Services in the United Kingdom.
She is facing fraud and perjury charges alongside her husband, Admire Kasi.
Kombo has applied to temporarily reclaim her passport to take her two minor children back to the United Kingdom where she is based.
She claims the children’s schools are demanding that they return to class.
However, she and her husband, Admire Kasi, are stuck in Zimbabwe following the surrender of their passports as part of their bail conditions.
The two were released on US$300 bail each and ordered not to interfere with witnesses, to reside at their given address in The Grange, Harare, and to surrender their passports.
Through her lawyer, Shylet Mapanje, Kombo told the court in a written application that she only intended to travel with her two minor children back to the UK, as she is the only person who can do so besides her husband.
She said she needs to put the two children back to school, arrange a professional caregiver for them before returning to Zimbabwe to clear her name.
“The applicant travelled from the United Kingdom on the 26th of October 2023 for a church conference with her two minor children aged 5 and 15 years.
“The respective schools of the two minor children are now demanding that the pair returns to school, but that seems impossible as they are stuck with their parents here in Zimbabwe; the same parents whose passports were surrendered as part of their bail conditions.
“Due to this situation, the UK Social Service is also demanding that these children return to school as soon as possible, and if they do not return to school, the children will ultimately be taken away from their parents by the Social Work Services of the United Kingdom so as to safeguard the best interests of the children, which includes full access to their education without hindrances,” she said in her application.
Kombo said she is willing to surrender tittle deeds to her property in Pomona worth US$200 000 as temporary surety that would be returned when she returns the passport to the Clerk of Court on December 12.
The State objected to the application, and magistrate Donald Ndirowei is scheduled to make a ruling today.
Allegations are that the couple graduated from the University of Bedfordshire with Bachelor of Laws degrees in 2013, and for them to practise law in Zimbabwe, they had to attain a certificate of completion with the Council for Legal Education (CLE) after writing and passing conversion examinations.
Claims are that in 2021, Kombo approached one Shorai Tafadzwa Mupunga, a CLE official to assist her to register and write the conversion examinations.
Mupunga reportedly advised her that she would engage Huggins Duri, who was secretary of CLE.
Allegations are that sometime last year, Mupunga approached Duri, who indicated that he was able to facilitate the issuing of the conversion certificates without writing the conversion examinations if the couple paid US$1 100.
The two allegedly paid the money through Mupunga, who handed it to Duri, who then processed the certificates which certified that the couple had written and passed eight conversion subjects which are: Statute Law, Evidence, Bookkeeping, Civil Law Practice Duties and Functions and Ethics for Legal Practitioners, Civil Practice and Procedure, Common Law 1 and Common Law 2.
Claims are that Duri handed the certificates to Mupunga for transmission to the couple.