‘My husband sold our house without my knowledge’

A woman of Chawama has divorced her husband of 26 years at the Boma Local Court after he ran away from home and did not talk to her for seven years.

Funny Phiri, 42, sued Thomas Matongo, 52, a banker to court for divorce because he deserted her.

According to The Zambia Observer, Phiri told senior local court magistrate Mukuka Ng’andu that they got married in 1993 and stayed well until 2012 when her husband started seeing another woman.

“This brought problems in our marriage and in 2013, his mother and elders from my family met to resolve this problem. During the meeting, we prayed.

“Just after the prayer, my husband walked out just like that.  He left us at the gathering and till date we don’t talk,” she said.

Phiri told the court her husband sold their house in the Meanwood area without her consent and told her he would never give her any money.

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“Because I was struggling to make ends meet, in 2014, I started working as a maid and a guard. I had a stroke due to pressure. Three months ago, I sued him for reconciliation,

“He agreed to reconcile in court but on the way home he told his cousin that he was just pretending and didn’t want me,” she said.

In defense, Matongo told the court that what his wife said was true.

He, however, said problem started in their marriage when his wife took to locking him out of the house even when he did not come late.

The court found that their  marriage broke down a long ago because the couple had not spoken in more than seven years nor had sex.

Divorce was granted and magistrate Ng’andu ordered Matongo to compensate Phiri with K10, 000