ADOPTED CHILDREN FIGHT OVER THE ESTATE OF PROMINENT ZIM BUSINESSMAN
Woman claim to be widow inherit farm and parcels out residential stands for sale
By Fanuel Viriri
A fight over the estate of a deceased and prominent Zimbabwean businessman involving his adopted children has spilled into the High Court of Zimbabwe.
The fight over the estate of Garth Finaughty has been playing out in courts in and Zambia and Zambia.
The late Garth was a well-to-do businessman closely associated with Fin’s Fishing Safaris, a renowned family-operated angling, hospitality and safari enterprise deeply rooted in the Lake Kariba and lower Zambezi regions of Zimbabwe.
The Finaughty family is highly prominent within the Southern African competitive angling community, particularly recognised for their mastery of African sport fishing. The Finaughty’s are celebrated in Zimbabwe angling community and own Safaris and lodges in Kariba.
A Zambian woman, Joyce Zulu (55), who claimed to be Garth’s widow, was jailed last year in Zambia for eight months after she fraudulently misrepresented herself as his widow and inherited Garth’s farm in Zambia. She then sub-divided the farm and started selling residential stands. She is also cited as a respondent in the Zimbabwe High Court case.
Tasha Sandra Hammond and Darryl John Hammond claim to be the adopted children of the late Garth Finaughty. They allege his estate, registered in Zimbabwe in 2013, was fraudulently administered.
The two are challenging the ownership of two houses. They want the High Court to cancel Title Deeds * and DT *, which are currently in other people’s names, and to declare an older deed, DT ***, as the valid title for the properties.
The properties are now held by Joyce Zulu, the Zambian woman cited as the first respondent.
The adopted children had obtained a court order in Zambia and registered it in Zimbabwe. They argued that this registration gave the Zimbabwean High Court the authority to decide the ownership dispute.
However, Justice Moyo struck the application off the roll with costs on 5 August 2026 in case ZWHHC 553/26.
The court did not decide whether Hammond and Hammond are indeed adopted children, nor did it determine who owns the houses. The case failed on a technicality.
The judge found that Zulu lives in Zambia. The applicants had not sought leave from the court to serve papers outside the country, which is required when suing someone who resides abroad. The court therefore had no jurisdiction over her.
The court also found that Hammond herself lives outside Zimbabwe. The law requires foreign litigants to deposit security for costs — money to cover legal costs if they lose — before suing. She had not done so.
Hammond had argued that registering the Zambian judgment under the Civil Matters (Mutual Assistance) Act automatically gave the High Court jurisdiction.
Justice Nokuthula Moyo disagreed. She ruled that registering a foreign judgment only allows you to enforce that specific judgment in Zimbabwe. It does not give the court power to make fresh orders against a foreigner, such as cancelling title deeds or deciding an estate.
The case was not dismissed on its merits. The applicants can still re-file if they obtain permission to sue outside the jurisdiction and comply with the rules for foreign litigants. #law