Man dumps wife for caring girlfriend
By Charles Musonda
THE Matero Local Court has heard that James Mulenga, 30, wants to divorce his wife Veronica Nankonde because his plans to marry his new-found girlfriend have reached an advanced stage.
Mulenga sued Nankonde for divorce because she was in the habit of deserting him whenever he lost employment.
Mulenga, a resident of Lilanda Compound in Lusaka, said he works as a loader at the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and his job was seasonal.
He said since they got married in 2022, Nankonde, 25, had left him on four occasions.
“Problems in our marriage started in 2024 when I lost my job. She left me and when I asked her relatives, they told me that they didn’t know where she was. When I started working again, she came back crying and I welcomed her,” he said.
Mulenga said his family rebuked him for taking her back, saying she was not fit to be a wife.
“My family rebuked me, called me a fool, but I didn’t mind them and they have all washed their hands out of this marriage. She continued with the same actions of leaving me when I was not working and coming back after I started working,” he said.
“But when she came back the last time, I did not worry because I had already found a girlfriend since I wanted a woman who could not run away from me when things were not okay.”
Mulenga said he started showing Nankonde signs that he had another love affair by talking to his new girlfriend on the phone in her presence.
He said on September 12, she attempted to commit suicide by taking an insecticide before attempting to administer the same to their two small children aged two years and two months.
Mulenga said he feared that she could have died, leaving him in problems with her family.
In her response, Nankonde said she still loved Mulenga, whom she considers her only parent who could look after their little children.
She said she was a double orphan and did not have anywhere to go with the children.
Nankonde said the reason she left home was that Mulenga used to beat her and that she used to pay rent and buy food for the family through street vending when he was jobless.
She said when he was transferred to Mumbwa he started a relationship with a workmate he now wanted to marry.
Nankonde said Mulenga stopped supporting her, claiming that he was no longer receiving any salary while using his pay to prepare for his new marriage.
She said when she followed him to Mumbwa she caught him red-handed with the same woman in bed.
In his judgment, Justice Lewis Mumba said it was a mistake for Mulenga to decide to marry another woman without first divorcing Nankonde.
He said if they had obtained a marriage certificate from the civic centre, Mulenga risked prosecution for bigamy, which attracts a custodial sentence. Justice Mumba ordered Mulenga to compensate Nankonde with K10,000 in K500 monthly installments and to give her K1,000 per month for child maintenance.
He also ordered Mulenga to leave her with all household goods and pay rent for her.
