ROAD Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) chief executive officer Zindaba Soko on Saturday fought with his wife at Zigzag Lodge in Livingstone over alleged text messaging, causing a brief disturbance to business. This is not the first time Soko is finding himself in conflict with the law over fights as in December 2014, police in Lusaka arrested him and his brother Samuel for assaulting Petro Phiri at Care for Business Hospital in Lusaka.

Sources at Livingstone Police Station confirmed to The Mast that Soko and his wife both reported the assault and were issued with medical reports after claiming of having sustained injuries in the fight.

A Zigzag employee who sought anonymity said Soko, his wife and children arrived at the lodge’s restaurant after 16:30 hours.

“We were all surprised when we heard loud noises from a woman seated with Mr Soko over the issue of a phone text message. They were both so physical…because of complaints from other clients, we decided to call the police who sent in a rapid response team and picked the couple,” the employee narrated.

Another employee at the lodge said the brawl between Soko and his wife caused disturbance to business as some patrons opted to leave.

“You will be aware that we have had a case of a shooting here in which a tourist was killed and any form of distance here is treated with great caution. So we had to act quickly because the whole incident was attracting a lot of attention and some foreign guests were leaving in a panic as Mr Soko seemingly looked drunk,” the employee said.

And a police source said while at the Livingstone Central Police Station, both Soko and his wife reported of being assaulted during the fight.

The source said Soko’s wife was, however, briefly detained.

“The whole issue seemed to have arisen after the wife noticed that she was blocked from receiving or sending messages to Mr. Soko’s cell-phone. We picked the couple from Zigzag at around 17:30 hours and at exactly 17:45 hours, we recorded Soko’s complaint in our Daily Occurrence Book at the Central Police Station under number 13112 over an incident that happened at around 17:30 hours in which Mr. Soko was assaulted by his wife who is said to be Christopher Yaluma’s sister,” the police source said.

The police source said Soko’s wife also claimed of being assaulted and was equally issued with a police medical report form. The matter was later referred to the Victim Support Unit while Soko and his wife were briefly counselled by the station officer in-charge. Soko, when contacted, claimed there was no fight between him and his wife.

“There was no such thing,” claimed Soko who, however, agreed that he was in Livingstone at the time when asked of his presence in the tourist capital.

Southern Province Police commissioner Bonny Kapeso could not comment on the matter saying he was out of station and referred all queries to his deputy, whose phone went unanswere
The Mast