Landmark Ruling Sees Man Successfully Sued For Breach Of Promise To Marry

In a ruling that will send shivers down many men’s spines a married Chitungwiza man will have to fork out $1,800 after reneging on a promise to marry his girlfriend.

: Landmark ruling in Zimbabwe could see men being sued for heartbreakFree Grunge Textures – www.freestock.ca / Foter / CC BY

Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa handed the judgement against Matthew Simango after he was alleged to have promised to marry the woman, then took her virginity before later dumping her. The judgement against him was seduction and breach of promise to marry.

Simango says she wasn’t a virgin and so he could not go through with the marriage, according to NewsDay. The woman had initially demanded $5,000.

Now we’re all for making sure that people who go about saying they will do something getting their just desserts if they don’t do it. There are many men who tell women that they will marry them and they don’t. We don’t like that.

But this judgement now sets a precedent. It opens one up to the possibility of being sued for falling out of love. Believe it or not, that happens. One can simply lose interest in a relationship and so can’t and won’t marry a person they thought they intended to marry. For want of a better statement, it’s the age-old adage… Sh!t Happens.

Also the proof of actual prejudice and quantification thereof is difficult here. Do we award people damages because they simply had their feelings hurt? Let’s hope that we are not encouraging litigious behaviour by doing this.

But kunyenga munhu uchiti I will marry you though… Ah yas! Kubhlivhisa chaiko! Abala nhloni. It’s real out there. Stupid real.