By Mary Taruvinga

A HARARE man, Rozva Dereck Mushinyi, is suing his uncle $1 million for defamation after he labelled him as mentally ill during a family meeting.

Mushinyi is suing his father’s brother Ben complaining that his utterances still hurt him and degraded him in the eyes of the community.

In summons filed at the High court, Mushinyi said his uncle had called him demeaning names during a family gathering after he sent his lawyers to Bikita to serve an interdict barring him and his allies from conducting a “tombstone unveiling” ritual on his late father’s grave.

He also said his uncle had insinuated that his mother was of loose morals which caused his neighbours to stigmatise him.

“On the 17th day of September 2021 in Nyahunda Village in Bikita, the Defendant (Ben) uttered defamatory, dehumanizing and degrading utterances about the Plaintiff at a gathering that had been organized by his other relatives,” court papers read.

“Defendant uttered the words “mwana wehure” meaning that I am a child of a whore and that “ndiri benzi” (I am not mentally stable). This is extremely defamatory and degrading given the fact that my late mother was never a whore…”

He says his uncle only convened the meeting to embarrass him.

“I was pained till today and I am a laughingstock in Bikita and whenever the story is been told. The utterances of the Defendant destroyed my fame and the stereotype that ordinarily attaches to whores is now haunting me, in fact my credibility was subjectively diminished,” he said.

The matter is currently pending before the court.