A 39 year old teacher at Lusaka’s Bauleni Compound, has been suspended from work for allegedly flirting with school children, the Boma Local Court heard on Friday.
This was disclosed during the hearing of a divorce case between Virginia Lyambai, 26, a teacher, and her husband Kennedy Mafuta, also a teacher, in the Boma Local Court.
“We’ve sat down before and talked about his behavour but nothing has changed. As I speak, he is currently on suspension for going out with school children, otherwise, I love my husband but I have failed to endure,” said Ms. Lyambai.
Mr. Mafuta also confirmed the suspension but accused the wife as the reason for the action against him.
“The issue is still under investigation and has not yet been concluded,” he stated.
Ms. Lyambai sued her husband for divorce for his alleged promiscuity and torturous behaviour.
She told the court, presided over by Magistrate Freda Mugala, that, “I love my husband, but he has tortured me very much in this marriage. That’s why I cannot stay in this marriage any more.”
In her statement, Ms. Lyambai who married Mr. Mugala in 2009, accused her husband of promiscuity and being disrespectful to her.
Ms. Lyambai narrated that, “Problem tabomfwa, baleenda nabana be sukulu, ama widows, abanakashi abakulu, as long as mwanakashi. Tabaposako namano ifyo ngumfwa. Nalisangapo nama earrings mu motoka yabo, ichitenge, ifishili ifyandi,”(My husband is stubborn. He goes out with pupils, widows, old women, and just every type of woman. He does not even care about how I feel. I once found someone’s ear ring, and a chitenge in his vehicle)
“We stayed well until when he started being unfaithful. The problem is that he does not respect me and he is not remorseful at all. He does not want to apologise even when he’s in the wrong,” Ms Liyambai said.
She also told court that a prophet once disclosed to her, during prayers, the
reason for their marital problems was her husband’s unfaithfulness.
But in his defence, Mr. Mafuta said his wife had always wanted to divorce him and had made several attempts to in the past.
He said that Ms. Lyambai told him he was not meant to be her husband every time they quarrelled.
“One day in the morning, I just saw a canter enter the yard. My wife was there with some men whom she instructed to pack up everything. They packed everything in the house and even wanted to pack up everything from our bedroom but I barred them from doing so because I don’t know where she expected me to sleep,” Mr. Mafuta said.
He blamed the lack of proper communication as the main reason for the problems in their marriage and accused Ms. Liyambai of making important decisions without consulting him.
“I do not know how many loans she has got. We had a car at home which we used for business as a taxi but she sold it without telling me. I don’t even how she used that money. She only told me about it when we began having problems,” Mr. Mafuta said.
He accused her of being irresponsible saying that, once, when they quarrelled, she left home and abandoned their still breastfeeding baby.
“I thought she would come home in the morning knowing she had left the baby, but she did not,” said Mr Mafuta who also accused his wife of being stingy.
“She does not pay for anything, even simple things like tomato and onion are bought by me. The people at the market even know me,” he stated.
He told the court that he suspected his wife had an affair with the prophet because he found messages in her phone suggesting so.
“One time she even confessed to me that the same prophet has once proposed to her. She used to come back late from prayers and she would tell me she’s at a certain friend’s place but when I called that friend, she said my wife had not been there,” Mr. Mafuta stated.
“The issue of the ear ring and the chitenge, I even explained to my wife that I give friends of mine lifts, and when they forget things in the car I cannot throw them. Even if I was having girlfriends I cannot just leave those things there for my wife to find,” Mr Mafuta explained.
The court divorced the two and observed that the mistrust between the two as a result of poor communication, had led to lack of peace in the marriage. Ms. Lyambai was granted custody of the children.
