A WOMAN of Lusaka’s John Laing who refused to have a fifth child has asked a local court to terminate her marriage.
Before senior presiding magistrate Regina Mumba was Josephine Mwengo, 30, who sued her husband Kamanga Tembo, 33, for divorce.
Mwengo told the court that she wanted her marriage dissolved because Tembo had married another woman after she refused to have a fifth child with him.
She said she has four children with Tembo and she sees no reason why they should have a fifth when he is unable to provide food and education for those they already have.
“I have four children with my husband. He does not take good care of them. They are not in school, and it is me who provides for their daily needs. He still wanted another child to join the others in suffering,” she said.
Mwengo said that Tembo has since married another woman with whom he has a child.
She told the court that difficulties in their marriage started when her husband left for Chipata for business and returned with another woman whom he said he had married to bear his fifth child.
Mwengo said Tembo left the matrimonial home to live with the new wife.
“I remained alone in the rented house with the children. He never brought food nor bought clothes for his own children,” she said.
Mwengo told the court that it is two years and five months since Tembo abandoned his family but he still physically attacks her when they meet.
She said Tembo beats her when he visits her at home or when he finds her selling groundnuts on the streets.
“We have been on separation for two years five months but the way my husband treats me is like we live in the same house. He restricts me on a number of things and yet he does not provide for my daily needs,” she said.
She said that he burns and throws away anything new he finds in her home and that this makes it difficult for her and the children to have an improved standard of living.
She said Tembo has been threatening to kill her and recently attempted to strangle her with his bare hands. She said this left her with a painful neck and she was for a while unable to work.
Mwengo said she no longer loves Tembo and wants to divorce him so that he may freely concentrate on his second wife.
In his statement, Tembo said that he did not want the marriage to end because the children would suffer.
He said divorce is not good for the children and his wife and wanted to correct his errors.
“The children are young. Besides I only wanted the fifth child from the second wife after my wife refused to bear one for me,” he said.
Tembo said he would not like to lose his marriage of 13 years considering what he and Mwengo have gone through together.
The court dissolved the marriage saying marriage is based on mutual understanding between two people and no one should be forced to continue.
The court also ruled that Mwengo gets all the household property and was granted custody of the children because they are all below the age of 18 years.
Tembo was ordered to maintain his children through monthly payments of K200,000 and to pay Mwengo K3 million as compensation in monthly installments of K200,000.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
