CHRISTINE CHISHA, Chongwe
A 52-YEAR-OLD woman of Mwalibuka village in Chongwe has told the Chongwe Local Court that she has not been intimate with her husband for the past three years because he has abandoned their matrimonial home.
Doris Phiri told Chongwe senior presiding magistrate Lazarus Mwape, who was sitting with senior local court magistrate Petland Mwansa, that her husband, Moses Banda, 54, has abandoned them in Chongwe and is living with another woman in Lusaka’s Chainda Township.
“This man has abandoned me and our only child. I followed him in Chainda but he embarrassed me. I cannot continue living like this, I am fed up and just want to be free,” Phiri said.
She said it was not the first time he has abandoned the family. In 2010 he abandoned his family and went to live with a woman at a farm he bought.
Phiri said she does not see why she should continue in a marriage when her husband has abandoned her for three years.
This is in a case in which Phiri sued Banda for divorce.
But Banda told the court that Phiri was not an honest woman. “I bought land and this woman was not helping me to cultivate the land.  A few months later I was told by my relatives that she had also bought a piece of land where she cultivates.
“I took her action as a betrayal. I told her I will find another woman, which I did. I gave her K50 to buy a chicken after I found another woman. She got very upset and threatened that she will poison me. That is the reason I abandoned my matrimonial home,” Banda said.
Passing judgment, the court granted the couple divorce and ordered Banda to be maintaining his child with a monthly contribution of K250.
Banda was also ordered to ensure that his child is in school and should be buying him clothes and groceries.