A WOMAN in Lusaka has been subjected to close to a decade of a long distance marriage while she sat patiently like one waiting for paint to dry, but her husband could only blue tick their union on most occasions.
With time, all the patience and love that 48 year old Misozi Nyau had for the husband Angaletha Banda aged 52, started to dry up like the Kariba Dam – except this time there was not even any water of romance left to generate the love back, not even for ‘three hours’ as she called it quits.
Matero Local Court heard that Banda, a bricklayer hailing from Kabanana left his wife for two women in 2016 and abandoned his duties as head of the house to the point that he delegated the task to his side chicks to send money to his wife whenever he reportedly sensed that his children were hungry.
He stopped servicing her at an age when life for her just began, 40.
Nyau got tired of waiting for the return of her husband, Angaletha and finally put her tools down and decided to sue him for divorce after falling out of love with him.
She told the court that the couple got married in 1996, when the defendant paid K250 for dowry and since then, they have lived to the biblical principal of filling the earth with five children together.
However, the plaintiff complained that Banda has had issues of infidelity in their home since the inception of their marriage. And that 2016 marked a different era when Banda decided to abandon her and their children for two different women.
She said since the time he left, he has never attempted to touch her or make love to her, as he only passes through her house like she is his neighbour.
“I have waited for him for a long time and now, I am tired. He does not even support his children financially, I suffer alone to feed them,” Nyau said.
She added that sometimes, his side chicks are the ones that call her and send her money.
“His girlfriends call me at times to tell me that your husband told me that you are hungry with the children, so here is some money to buy food. But I cannot continue like this. That is why I have come to court so that the court can help us put an order on how he will maintain his children since he denied me already,” she said.
When it was time for Banda to speak in the dock, he showed no remorse or an ounce of interest in the marriage insisting that he also wanted nothing to do with Nyau, while stating the obvious fact of having marital disputes for a long time which led him into the arms of another woman.
Hearing from both sides, Magistrate Harriet Mulenga reprimanded Banda and decided to send the shell of a marriage six feet under.
“But if you don’t sleep with your wife for eight years, who do you expect to sleep with her? Did you want to wait for her until the time she made a mistake so that you sue her for adultery while you are enjoying?”
“Because she is human and can err too. You could have sued her for divorce immediately you found another woman and didn’t want her,” Magistrate Mulenga told Banda
She upheld the claim for divorce and ordered that Banda compensate his wife with K28,000, which is a thousand for each year he wasted her time.
The children were left in the custody of Nyau while the court further ordered that Banda should pay K1,000, subject to review yearly, to maintain his offspring.
“The house shall not be sold. The court has given it to the five children that the couple has together,” ordered Magistrate Mulenga.
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba November 15, 2024
