THE Chipulukusu local court in Ndola has heard how six children have been sharing one blanket as their father cannot manage to buy for each of them because of his love for women.
Aclina Milimo told Chipulukusu local court magistrates Chileshe Nsofu and Paul Kayula that her husband had become irresponsible after impregnating different women whom he has been spending his money on.
This was a case where Milimo, 31, sued Lloyd Simacha, 38, for reconciliation.
The couple has been married for seven years although Simacha allegedly impregnated another woman in March this year before he deserted his family to stay with the new girlfriend.
“He only gives me K20 to buy food for the six children. The money is not enough at all, when I ask him to give me more money he refuses,” she told the court. “All my six children are sharing one old blanket and have no proper clothes because this man is not providing for them.”
In defence, Simacha denied this, saying that he only had one woman who he impregnated and his wife was aware.
He told the court that he was a taxi driver and that he had been working at night to raise money for food for his family.
Simacha added that the K20 he was giving his wife was enough to buy food for his family as this was what he could afford.
In passing judgment, Mr Kayula expressed shock to hear that K20 was enough to buy food for his six children and the wife.
He wondered what type of food could be bought from K20 to cater for three meals for seven people in a day.
He told the defendant that K20 was not enough and that taxi drivers made a lot of money and ordered him to start buying normal food and blankets for his children.
Magistrate Kayula also wondered why the defendant impregnated another woman when he was failing to feed and clothe his wife and six children.
He, however, reconciled the two and ordered Simacha to take up all the responsibilities of the family and urged the wife to file for a divorce if the problems continued.
Times of Zambia