Local Court Fines Bus Driver for Divorcing Wife

A BUS driver of Lusaka’s Jack Township has been ordered to pay his wife ZMK14 million (US$2,800) as compensation for divorcing her.

The Lusaka Boma local court heard that the man, Saidi Silomba, sexually starved his wife, Jacqueline Funyila, 25, for over four years and mistreated her.
Senior presiding magistrate Elipher Mwewa slapped the compensation amount on Silomba, 30, in a case in which he sued Funyila for divorce.

Magistrate Mwewa said it is sad that couples in the current generation are failing to grow old together in marriage. She said that the fine on Silomba should serve as a warning to other men who have the habit of mistreating their wives.

During the hearing, Silomba demanded that the court terminates his marriage to Funyila because they have not made love for over four years.

The two got married in 1998 and have two children together. Silomba paid ZMK2.5 million (US$500) as dowry. Silomba said Funyila’s bad attitude had caused him to marry another woman who obeys his instructions. He said Funyila had failed to please him as she could not even prepare food for him before he left for work.

“My work as bus driver is tedious and I need food to make me strong for the day, but my wife fails to do that. I always work on an empty stomach and yet I am married,” Silomba said.

He said Funyila liked money so much that when he did not give her any, she would prevent him from leaving the house to go for work by locking the door.
Silomba said whenever they differed, his mother-in-law would warn him against leaving her daughter.

“I married another woman to try and solve our matrimonial problems at home, but it did not help, hence my reason for leaving my matrimonial home. I now live with my new wife and would like to continue doing so. That is why I need this divorce,” he said.

Silomba said he has lived with his new wife for four-and-half years and he does not know what Funyila has been doing alone.

But in her statement, Funyila told the court that she had been living with hope that one day Silomba would change his mind and return home.

“I still love my husband and I know that whatever he is doing is not of his own making. Our children are still too young to lose their father,” Funyila said.

In her judgment, magistrate Mwewa said it was worrying that divorces were being recorded virtually everyday. She granted the divorce and also ordered that the former couple’s house be put on rent and the money be used by Funyila and the children.

Silomba was also ordered to maintain his two children through a monthly payment of ZMK300,000 (US$60).