MUTINTA MULAYE writes
A FEMALE teacher of Lusaka’s Mtendere Compound has divorced her husband of 11 years in the Boma Local Court due to lack of communication and being obsessed with his phone.
Tabalile Phiri, 33, told Senior Local Court Magistrate Mpundu Mwape that after she got married to Steven Gona, 40, in 2008, problems started in 2010 when they just stopped talking to each other as husband and wife should.
“He was always on his phone, even when he goes to the bathroom he would always carry it. I don’t know anything that is going on in his life,
“He never used to discuss anything and I got frustrated and decided to involve relatives. Nothing much changed. We continued living the same way until one day I heard he impregnated another woman. When I asked him about it he refused at first but after some time he admitted having done so,” she said.
She said problems in their marriage just worsened and he was so unavailable and her husband still could not talk to her.
“I was tired of living like that so I told him I was going to pack my things and leave. I left him but then our relatives sat us down. I returned only to learn that he had a child outside our marriage,” Ms Phiri said.
In defence Gona told the court that problems in their marriage started after he impregnated another woman.
“We involved our elders who sat us down. I thought we reconciled but my wife never forgave me. One day she just packed and left. I don’t even know where she went and I even reported to the police that she was missing,” he said
The court found that Gona was the one who brought problems in the marriage after he impregnated another woman.
Divorce was granted and Gona was ordered to compensate Phiri with K7, 000.
