A-43-YEAR OLD ‘sworn enemy of pigs’ and ‘pork-free’ man of Lusaka’s Boss Boss Compound has been left wife-less after his wife of 16 years gave up on him due to his habit of coming back home at 05 everyday.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, 32 year old Thulani Mabuto, stood before the Matero Local court explaining how the husband of her youth, who was the first man to stamp on her ‘reproductive passport,’ changed from a responsible family guy to a ‘Mario’ who could not even provide at home.
Mabuto told the court that her husband, Agent Kasonkomana became an ‘agent of irresponsibility’ the day he secured a stable job after years of surviving on a K25 salary.
She said the two got married in 2009 in an SDA church and like any other normal marriage, the first few years were as sweet as sugar from Mazabuka.
Like a politician during campaign season, Kansokomana would even worship the ground the wife walked on and at some point even became as ‘kind’ as the FDD candidate strolling around Chawama washing and cooking for people.
However, things turned sour in 2017 when the husband got a stable job as a transfer agent.
Instead of improving life at home, Mabuto explained that Kasonkomana, the man she helped build, started coming back home at 22 hours every day, with the late coming behaviour worsening year after year.
“In 2018, he started coming back home at 05. Whenever he came back, I would not question him, I would just give him water to bath and sometimes he would refuse my food. For some time, I overlooked all that and said “he’s just man,” she cried.
She told the court that as years went by, she became the sole provider in their marriage.
Having mistaken his wife’s generosity for a Constituency Development Fund (CDF) bursary which comes with money for groceries, Kasonkomana stopped supplying basic needs at home and started waiting upon his newly found ‘donor’ (the wife) to fund the household.
“At first, he started leaving a K400 per month for me to buy food and other needs then he completely stopped leaving anything home and stopped buying food. I had to feed the whole family when my husband was the one working. He even stopped sponsoring our kids to school. I just want to be free, I have tried talking to bashibukombe (marriage counselor and my mother in law but no change,” said Mabuto.
She complained that there was a time she was sleeping in the living room for four months after her husband kicked her out of their matrimonial home like Stoppila Sunzu kicked the winning goal in 2012 during AFCON.
“That day when he kicked me out of the bedroom, he said that “ulinanzelu zahule.” That hurt me because he married me when I was just 16 and I had never known any man.”
She said the two had since been experiencing ‘the worst bedroom drought in living memory,’ as the husband’s cultivating machine was on a field trip, touring other women’s wet and fertile plantations.
In his defence, Kasonkomana stated that he changed because his wife had ‘queen bee’s’ language each time they would discuss issues and she would usually leave her matrimonial home to chill with her sisters without his permission.
“She usually goes out without telling me. She once went out for two days with our two younger children. The first born asked me that “where is mum,” I then called my wife to ask her where she was, but she just answered me that “I’m safe don’t worry. She also does not talk with respect, when you start talking, she usually brings up old issues,” he said.
Magistrate Lewis Mumba granted the couple a divorce and ordered that the two shops they jointly owned be shared equally, with one shop going to the wife.
Magistrate Mumba awarded the incomplete house to the couple’s four children and ordered Kasonkomana to complete construction within six months.
“The court grants you a divorce. You are ordered to compensate your wife with K12,000, K1,500 by the end of this month and K500 monthly thereafter. You will also be paying K1,000 for child maintenance every month. Household goods will be shared equally,” Magistrate Mumba ruled.
“The house is for the four children. You must finish building it within six months. Mabuto, return to court after six months to report whether he has complied. I will personally monitor the house. If you decide to rent it out, the money must go directly to the children while their father continues paying maintenance.”
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, January 4, 2025
