AFTER years of keeping his personal life out of the spotlight, renowned Zambian gospel artiste and producer Magg44 has broken his silence about his divorce, admitting that the split was largely due to character issues on his part.
Real name, Magnus Mando, the award winning artiste revealed that the divorce process began in 2019, a year he now describes as one of the most painful seasons of his life.
“There’s a line in my song where I say, ‘2019 was as hard as 2020,’” Magg44 shared.
“2019 was the most terrible year. That year was the year we started our divorce. That’s the year we started our process of divorce, I remember that year, the headline in one of the newspapers was, “28,000 couples get divorced,” in that year. And I remember looking at that headline and saying I’m amongst those 28,000.”
Known for his role in shaping Zambia’s gospel music scene, Magg44 said the issues in his first marriage were not about infidelity or abuse, but rather personal shortcomings that gradually created emotional distance.
“There was no gender based violence, no cheating,” he said.
“We were just two people with good intentions who came from very different backgrounds. I can guarantee you that there was character issues on my end that caused that rift and I think the issue in most marriages it’s the character issues that are a challenge.”
Magg44 reflected on how he entered marriage with a naive view of what it would take to make it work.
“And the main reason I got divorced is that I just didn’t know what I was getting myself into and as cheesy as this sounds.”
“I think I looked at a Hollywood relationship and thought this is how it’s supposed to be. I looked at happily ever after that you will see in a movie and that’s what I thought marriage was. It’s also easier said than done. I didn’t realise that real marriages required maturity and sacrifice,” he said.
The gospel artiste admitted that when the relationship started to unravel, both he and his former wife caught off guard by how quickly things changed.
“One moment we were finishing each other’s sentences, the next we couldn’t understand each other. Dating doesn’t always show you who someone truly is or who you are,” explained Magg44.
Now remarried and raising a family, Magg44 says he has taken time to reflect deeply on what went wrong and how faith plays a role in the responsibilities of a husband.
“The Bible says, ‘Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church.’ That’s not just a sweet verse. It means dying to self. If I’m honest, I didn’t do that well. That’s why I take the blame.”
“I wish I spent a lot more time learning about marriage. Marriage has to do a lot with character an individual and how they think and behave. What makes this person, this person. I’m remarried now to a wonderful person but I’m not perfect. And we have started a family together.”
He also took a moment to thank fellow artistes and members of the media plus family who knew about his divorce but chose not to share the story publicly.
Though the divorce still isn’t easy to talk about nearly six years later, Magg44 hopes his story will help others especially young people entering marriage with little understanding of what it truly demands.
“I wish I had taken more time to learn about marriage. It’s not just about love, it’s about who you are as a person. Your character, your thinking, your habits,” he said.
As one of Zambia’s most influential gospel voices, Magg44 says he hopes his transparency can help demystify divorce, especially within the church.
“We all know that God hates divorce. It’s not easy for me as a gospel artiste. Divorce is such a big thing. I feel like my story and the different things that I have gone through will help people navigate through it,” he narrated.
“My role is to die [to self] and our character reflection should be that of Jesus. If you are thinking of getting divorced, ask yourself ‘how much have I tried to be like Christ.’ It was my fault because I should have pursued to be like Christ. I’m taking the blame because it’s my role to love as Christ loved the church.”
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, July 9, 2025
