The legal dispute between opposition spokesperson Fadzai Mahere and Youth Empowerment Minister Tino Machakaire is set to continue, with the High Court scheduling the next hearing for 14 May 2026 after the matter was postponed.
Machakaire filed a defamation lawsuit against Mahere last year seeking US$50,000 in damages. The case stems from statements that the minister claims harmed his reputation.
Mahere has strongly contested the claim and filed counterclaims of her own. As part of her defence, she applied for default judgment, arguing that Machakaire should be barred from responding to her counterclaim because he allegedly approached the court with what lawyers term “dirty hands.”
The matter had been set down for hearing earlier, but proceedings were postponed after the court ran out of time. Legal representatives for both parties , Thabani Mpofu representing Mahere and Tinomudaishe Chinyoka representing Machakaire, later agreed to move the hearing to 14 May.
Meanwhile, Mahere has also been challenging a separate order requiring her to pay Machakaire’s legal costs. In an urgent chamber application filed at the High Court, she argued that the costs awarded were excessive because the matter was not complex and could have been handled without the involvement of an advocate.
In the accompanying application for review, Mahere stated that the hiring of an advocate in a defamation case involving a US$50,000 claim was unnecessary and that ordinary legal representation would have sufficed.
Despite that argument, Mahere appeared at the most recent hearing represented by Advocate Mpofu, along with a lawyer from her legal team. Lawyer Blessing Diza, who had previously argued the costs application, was not present during the hearing.
Judgment on the urgent chamber application has been reserved, while the review application is still pending.
