Pastor divorces cheating wife
Written by Millennium on July 10, 2019
LUCY PHIRI writes
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD pastor of Lusaka’s Mtendere East has sued his wife of 17 years for divorce on grounds that she does not respect him and confessed to cheating on him.
Elisa Banda, 41, told the court he was scared he and his wife, Elizabeth Sakala, 39, of the same area, might kill each other because there is no peace in their home.
They were appearing before Chelstone Local Court presiding magistrate Mary Namangala sitting with presiding magistrate Kennedy Mwansa Mutale.
Banda had sued Sakala for divorce.
He said he married Sakala in 2002 and had four children with her.
He said he had paid part of the bride price.
Banda narrated to the court that they used to live in harmony the first few years of their marriage, but everything changed after his wife had her first child.
“My wife started hiding her phone and used to answer calls from outside. And in 2007 she came to me to confess that she had a boyfriend whom she used to sleep with because of the money he used to give her,” he said.
“We started having misunderstandings in the house. My wife started doing things deliberately to upset me,” Banda said.
He told the court that his wife did not respect him as a husband and did not have good friends who were prayerful.
“For this reason I am scared I might lose track because I am also human. We may kill each other. It is better we part ways,” Banda said.
In defence, Sakala said her husband did not know how to support his family.
He did not provide food or pay rentals.
“I am not disputing having a boyfriend outside marriage. I did so because by then my husband was not working. I confessed and he forgave me,” Sakala said.
“My husband doesn’t support the family. I struggle alone with my business to buy food in the house. He also started sleeping with clothes on and goes out around 05:00 hours and comes back at 22:00 hours,” she said.
“I still love my husband. I want us to keep the children together,”
Sakala said.
But Banda said he went for prayers at 05:00 hours and told the court that his wife knew why he slept with clothes.
Upon hearing both parties, the court said love was not a forcing matter.
“We cannot force love, hence divorce granted and plaintiff [Banda] should compensate defendant [Sakala] with K7,000 with first installment K1,000 at August monthend and K350 thereafter and K500 every month children maintenance,” magistrate Namangala said.
