VICTORIA KASANGA writes
A WOMAN in Ndola has lost a case in which she was demanding part of an estate of a man she claimed was her husband after the man’s family disowned her.
Beauty Masiketo,38 of Lubuto Extension had sued Mbukila Tembo 45 of Kabushi Township in her capacity as administrator for refusing to recognise her as wife of late Elijah Tembo.
Masiketo told Kabushi Local Court Senior presiding magistrate Agnes Mulenga sitting with Mildred Namwizya and Evelyn Nalwizye that she got married to Tembo in 2017 and K200 dowry was paid but that she had no child with the man but lived well.
She said on day she had travelled to her working place Ndola City Council to claim her leave days.
While there she received a call from her neighbours, informing her that they had not seen her husband from morning.
“I then called his driver to go and check on him and when he went there, he discovered that Tembo had died,” she said.
She said after they buried Tembo in Lusaka, his family members refused to recognise her as a widow.
She said she knew his brother Mbukila Tembo because her husband used to take her to his place on many occasions.
Tembo said in 2006 his older brother who was the first born in the family stopped retired as a miner and came to live in Ndola and secured employment with City Council.
Tembo said his brother had a wife and six children and lived together with them.
“In 2017, I met Masiketo for the first time when they were going to Lusaka for a workshop with my brother and he told me she was just his girlfriend,” he said.
He said after that Masiketo started harassing his brother’s wife telling her she was going to get married to him which led to them going on separation.
He said when his brother died, he was appointed administrator together with his brother’s wife as the two did not divorce.
Tembo said the family could therefore not regard Masiketo as the second widow as no one in the family knew her.
The court dismissed the case on grounds that an administrator was chosen in Lusaka and that the second marriage was only known between the two parties without even informing any family members.
