‘She’s cruel, I want divorce’

DUE to her cruelty towards his family and child, a Lusaka man stood his ground in the Matero Local Court that all he wanted was a divorce.
Rita Sakala, 32, told the court that her husband Abisai Mwanza, 39, advised that she sues for divorce because he could no longer live with her. She went ahead and sued for divorce.

But Sakala claimed the reason Mwanza insisted on divorce was because he wanted to marry another woman and not that she ill-treated his family and child.
Mwanza’s child is from his previous marriage.
“He sent me for marriage counselling but did not follow me up. When my brother attempted to send me back home, Mwanza said he was no longer interested and advised that I sue for divorce,” she said.

Sakala told senior court magistrates Lewis Mumba and Pauline Newa that Mwanza has been having an affair with a woman from his village.
“I found out about the affair when I went to visit my parents-in-law in village. During my visit, I and the other woman even quarrelled.

I also found out Mwanza even bought a house and seven cattle in the village,” she said.
Sakala, who disclosed that the couple was HIV-positive, complained that it was unfair for Mwanza to abandon her.
But Mwanza denied plans to marry another woman as well as having bought a house and cattle in the village.

He insisted that he wanted a divorce because Sakala was cruel woman.
“Sakala mistreated my child, yet I took care of her three children,” he said.
The court granted the couple divorce ordering Mwanza to compensate Sakala with K8,000.

The court also ordered Mwanza to pay K300 as child maintenance and that the couple share household property bought together equally.

Zambia Daily Mail