Kalenga dumps wife for ‘hot’ sidechick
By Charles Musonda
MARGARET Kabuche and Clement Kalenga have divorced after Kalenga refused to end his illicit love affair with his girlfriend.
He challenged his wife, Kabuche, to leave if she was tired and not ready to live in a polygamous marriage.
Kabuche, 32, of Zingalume Compound, said she married Kalenga in 2017 and they have two children aged six and four years.
She said the couple had been on separation since last December.
Kabuche told Matero Local Court magistrate Victoria Ndhlovu problems in their marriage started in 2020 when she discovered that Kalenga, 33, of Chazanga Compound, had a girlfriend.
“He admitted and told me that if I’m tired and not ready to be his other wife I should leave because those who leave don’t say goodbye. I later found him with the same girlfriend at his shop and he beat me in her presence. On another occasion, he beat me again in presence of his sister,” Kabuche said.
She said Kalenga refused to resolve their differences through family dialogue on grounds that according to the law he has read, when a wife left her husband without being chased, it meant divorce.
Kabuche said they later had a church meeting with elders at Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) but Kalenga refused to let go of his girlfriend and the gathering did not yield anything.
She said for the 11 months they had not been together, Kalenga had not been supporting her and the children and was not moved when he was informed that they had been admitted to hospital.
Kabuche ‘s mother said Kalenga threw her daughter’s clothes outside the house in her presence and never apologised to her.
The old woman said even when she was admitted to hospital Kalenga never visited her.
In his response, Kalenga said he did not want divorce because he still loved Kabuche as his wife.
He had been begging her to return home but she had refused.
Even at the church meeting he emphasised that the only thing he demanded from his wife was to change her disrespectful attitude towards him because she was aware of his current low financial status.
He said Kabuche was aware of the K20,000 debt he contracted to boost his stationery shop and that the business almost collapsed when she was in charge.
Kalenga said he failed to visit their sick children because of her disrespect for him.
He denied beating his wife in the presence of of his girlfriend, saying he only restrained her from fighting her rival whom he said he had ended his affair with.
Justice Ndhlovu found that the couple lived in peace only for a few years and that there was infidelity on Kalenga’s part.
She said Kalenga did not love Kabuche and the children as he did not visit them in hospital.
He had no respect for his mother-in-law.
Justice Ndhlovu granted the divorce and ordered that since Kalenga abused Kabuche, he would compensate her with K10,000 in K600 monthly installments and pay her K800 monthly for child maintenance.
The children’s education and health needs were also his responsibility.
