A LUSAKA civil servant whose job description is to care for the sick and help people stay healthy has ‘discharged’ her husband from the ‘marriage ward’ after getting loans for him which he used for gambling games and later failed to pay back.
This is in a matter where Patience Chitoshi, 34, a nurse hailing from the unplanned settlement location of Kamanga, ‘yangoed’ her house husband Mwiche Hamuwanga to court for divorce over his love for betting and failure to repay the loans she got for him.
Instead of injecting babies with the BCG and polio vaccines, Patience was busy injecting funds into her husband’s account, thereby, giving a headache to the office of the Bank of Zambia governor, which recently complained that civil servants were failing to repay loans.
She lamented that Mwiche, who is a year younger, had forced her to obtain a total of K80,500 from four different lending companies so he could bet, promising her the lavish lifestyle portrayed by some gambling ambassadors online.
“He is addicted to gambling and made me get loans for him, including K21,000 from Unify, K10,500 from Express Loans, K24,000 from LOLC and K25,000,” she explained.
Having mistaken his wife’s money for a free University of Zambia meal allowance, Mwiche had even, at one point, obtained a loan using her payslip without her knowledge.
Unlike her name, Patience eventually ran out of patience when she realised that, like Chinua Achebe’s novels, things were no longer at ease and had completely fallen apart in her marriage.
She said at some point, when she started refusing to give him money for betting, he would pour water on her and the three children they share.
Despite his toxic behaviour, Mwiche had an insatiable appetite for bedroom activities like a woman on ovulation.
“He doesn’t buy anything for the home and when I got a maid, he chased her away, saying he would be the one to take care of the children and that when I got paid, I should give him the money I was paying the maid,” she said.
Realising that he might go back to the life of hugging pillows at night this June, Mwiche apologised to his wife in court, stating that he would pay back the money he got from her.
“I’m only asking for my wife’s forgiveness. I know her heart is hurting. I’m asking for time to get counselled and fix my home and I will pay back that money in this same court.”
“All I need is counselling to become the man she wants me to be as a husband. I will be giving her money and every time a tenant sends money, I will share the text message with her. I will give her more than the money I owe her,” he said.
Magistrate Charity Milambo gave the couple two weeks to talk things over and later decide whether to call it quits or not.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, June 19, 2026
