Court rules Denise Zimba must return children to Germany following custody dispute

Former Vuzu star and Generations actress, Denise Zimba, who has been ordered by the court to return her two minor children to Germany after she unlawfully retained them in South Africa under the pretense of a holiday, has indicated intent to accompany her children back to Germany. 

Zimba applied for her visa to enable her to travel with the children, being the children’s primary caregiver. 

The children hold dual South African and German nationality and expired German passports.

The children were habitual residents in Germany.

This comes as Zimba and her estranged husband, Jakob Schlichtig, are locked in ongoing divorce proceedings after Zimba publicly revealed some of the betrayals that led to their divorce, including allegations of infidelity on Schlichtig’s part. 

According to reports, Schlichtig was accused of having an affair with Zimba’s childhood friend, Mpumi Mdluli. 

This week, Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare highlighted the interests of the children who are aged five and one-years-old. 

The court order noted that there was a misunderstanding by both Zimba, who had since relocated to Cape Town, and the Family Advocate of Johannesburg, regarding her appeal remedies after Schlichtig, through the German courts, instituted legal action against Zimba in terms of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction (the Convention). 

Zimba appealed against the Gauteng High Court order, but that appeal failed at the Supreme Court of Appeal.   

Judge Thulare noted: “It seems that she was initially under the impression that time did not start running immediately after the High Court made an order. She believed that she could only make her election after the appeal process was exhausted. Before this court, the mother conceded that her computation of time was wrong and that although the period was at times interrupted by her lodging of applications for leave to appeal. In the case like the present, where the children who were habitually resident in Germany were wrongfully retained in South Africa by their mother, the legal position is that South Africa has an obligation to secure the prompt return of such children wrongfully retained in South Africa, to Germany, and to ensure that rights of custody and access of the father under the law of Germany are effectively respected in South Africa. It may be so that when the issues come before court, the best interests of the children point to the mother for purposes of their care as the appropriate parent. The court to make such determination, under the circumstances, is not a South African court. It is the German courts."

The parents were also ordered to secure objective and independent English-speaking therapeutic support services for the children on their return to Germany, including, but not limited to, psychotherapy. 

Thulare further stated that both parents’ lawyers should work together to ensure that Zimba is supported to have her travel documents expedited. 

“It is easy for an adult to march into a child’s residence with a court order in hand and a Sheriff in tow and walk out with children screaming, it is another to seek to build a relationship with the children and as a parent, enjoy the confidence and earn the smile and laughter of your kids looking forward to a long trip,” said Thulare. 

Cape Argus