The government has teamed up with the estranged husband of television actress Denise Zimba in a legal battle to take her children who are living with her in South Africa and expatriate them to Germany to live with their father.
Zimba and the father of her children, Jakob Schlichting, who walked down the aisle in a wedding of cosmic proportions on January 10, 2020, broke up when they were on holiday in Cape Town late last year.
Schlichting returned to Germany alone after Zimba told him that she would no longer be going back there with him, saying she wanted to remain in South Africa with their two children.
Upon his return to Munich, Germany, Schlichting mounted a legal battle against Zimba, the former Vuzu presenter, demanding that she return the children to Germany because she had unlawfully removed them from their habitual place.
The explosive details are contained in urgent court papers Schlichting and the Central Authority of the Republic of South Africa (Carsa) filed in the Joburg High Court last month.
In the court papers that we have seen, Carsa, the first applicant, and Schlichting, the second applicant, said Zimba should return the children to Germany after June 7.
Renay Kathawaroo of Carsa, which falls under the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, stated that on or during March 19, 2024, they received a request for assistance from the Central Authority of Germany to secure the prompt return of the minor children.
Kathawaroo said in his affidavit that the application stated that Schlichting and Zimba met in Cape Town in January 2015.
“They then agreed to move on to the second applicant’s home country in Germany in 2016. At the time, the respondent was employed as an actress and a continuity presenter; she then resigned as such and moved to Munich, Germany, with the second applicant,” read Kathawaroo’s affidavit.
He said that Schlichting later bought a two-bedroom apartment in Cape Town, which they would use when visiting South Africa.
He further said that on January 10, 2020, Schlichting and Zimba tied the knot in Cape Town in a traditional ceremony and a civil union.
Afterwards, he stated, Schlichting and Zimba agreed to move to Munich and make it their primary residence.
He said the German government granted Zimba a spousal visa and a residence permit in 2021. They were -later blessed with two children.
“The second applicant and the respondent agreed to go visit South Africa on a two-month holiday stay, in the company of their minor children, from November 7, 2023, until January 11, 2024, on the -assumption that they would return to Germany prior to the children
returning to school.
“During their visit to South Africa, the couple had disagreements. The respondent told the second applicant that she would not be returning home with him on January 11, 2024, and wants a divorce,” stated Kathawaroo.
Schlichting, he added, offered to take the children with him, but Zimba refused. She then left to stay with her sister, he said.
Kathawaroo said Schlichting later returned to South Africa to convince Zimba to return the kids to Germany, but she again refused.
“The second applicant returned to Germany alone on February 26, 2024.
“However, on or during September 15, 2023, the respondent filed for divorce in the Gauteng Division, Johannesburg, and sought, inter alia, full custody of the -minor children. The matter is opposed and has not been finalised.
“I pause to interpose the fact that on March 6, 2024, the second applicant submitted a request for return application to the Central Authority in Germany in terms of Article 16 of the Convention, where their children were habitual residents before they were removed,” reads the affidavit.
Schlichting, said Kathawaroo, indicated his interactions with Zimba were hostile, saying they even consulted a social worker to help them mediate the terms of their separation.
“It appears that the issue of wrongful removal of minor children was brought to the Authority of Germany, and this led to the request for assistance being brought to our attention in order for us to assist with the prompt return of the minor children to their habitual residence before they came to South Africa,” read his affidavit.
Kathawaroo said it appeared that Zimba had planned to permanently remove the children to South Africa because she had already enrolled them at a school after leasing a property in Joburg.
“Accordingly, the respondent’s removal of the minor children from their habitual residence of Munich, Germany, to the RSA, is wrongful in that it is in breach of the custody rights attributed to the second applicant.
“The minor children are retained in South Africa without the consent of the second applicant. The retention will be wrongful if it is in contravention of the second applicant’s custody rights in terms of the applicable law in the habitual residence of the minor children, which is Germany. The second applicant consented to their removal on condition and agreement that they would return to Germany.
“The retention constitutes a breach of the rights of custody of the second applicant,” read the affidavit.
