MUTINTA MULAYE writes
THE Lusaka Boma Local Court has reconciled a woman and her husband who has been hiding his salary from her.
Idah Ndhlovu, of Mtendere, sued Bernard Lungu of the same area saying he had been causing endless disputes in their marriage.
Ndhlovu told senior local court magistrate Juliet Mwila that her husband married her in 2003, but problems started in 2016 when he started hiding his salary from her.
“Whenever he got paid, he would say he had debts to settle. This worsened in 2018 when he even started sleeping out. He spent more days out of our house, even a week and I don’t know where he used to sleep. Even this year I have never seen his salary,” Ndhlovu said.
She said Lungu started getting things from the house without telling her where he was taking them.
He would leave the house and sleep out for days without picking up her calls.
“I even became used to him not coming home. When I call him and he doesn’t answer I know that I am going to sleep alone that night. He even stopped buying food at home,” Ms Ndhlovu said.
She said one time she got very sick and her relatives took her so that they could take care of her since her husband was never at home.
Even when Ndhlovu left Lungu did not follow her or check on her to see how she was,” she said.
She told the court that she wanted to know if her husband had a girlfriend who he was sleeping out with and spending all his money on because he had stopped spending money on her.
Ndhlovu said she wanted her husband and her to get back and live normally together the way a husband and a wife should.
Lungu told the court his wife was to blame for the problems the couple had been experiencing because she did not listen to him.
“I can’t control her; she talks too much and talks to me like I’m a child. She doesn’t have respect and that is the biggest problem,” he said.
Lungu said there was no secrecy in their marriage because his wife had been taking all their issues out of the house.
He admitted sleeping out as his wife said, but not for a week.
“I have a girlfriend and she knows. I will leave her after sometime because I love my wife and she is the woman of our house,” Lungu said.
The court found that Lungu’s unfaithfulness was the root cause of their problems.
The court also found that there no dowry had been paid and therefore Lungu and Nhdlovu were just cohabiting and not married.
The claim was therefore dismissed but Ndlovu’s family was advised to charge Lungu for dowry since both parties wanted the marriage.
