DISTRIBUTED BY VERITAS TRUST Tel: [263] [4] 794478 Fax & Messages [263] [4] 793592 E-mail: veritas@mango.zw Veritas makes every effort to ensure the provision of reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied. Judgment No. SC 41 /18 Civil Appeal No. SC 326/14 taken into consideration in considering the position the appellant would have been in if a normal marriage relationship had continued between her and the respondent. The benefits flowing from the lease will exclusively accrue to the party who will remains in occupation of the farm if they are not distributed. In terms of the provisions of s 7 (4) (f), the court is entitled to consider the value of “any benefit” a spouse will lose on divorce in distributing the matrimonial property of the spouses. The court a quo failed to consider and distribute the value of the benefits which flow from a registered long lease which confers real rights. It is the value of those benefits and advantages which are distributable in terms of s 7(4) of the Matrimonial Causes Act. In this case there is evidence that the parties were benefiting from their farming projects. The party who will leave the farm as a result of the divorce will lose those benefits while the party who remains on the farm will continue to enjoy its full benefits. It is therefore just and equitable that the value of those benefits should be taken into consideration in distributing the assets of the divorcing spouses. The rights in the lease accrued to the appellant by virtue of the fact that she was married to the respondent. She in fact contributed directly and indirectly to their being able to qualify for the 99-year lease. The rights and benefits the respondent derives from the lease are a necessary consideration in the distribution of the assets of the spouses. The lease forms part of the assets of the spouses but was allocated in such a way that it cannot be taken away from the respondent who signed the lease agreement, through a court order and be awarded to the 9