AFTER defying her parents’ advice discouraging her from marrying a security guard, a university graduate of Kitwe has run away from her marriage of three years and is seeking divorce in the Garneton local court. Mailesi Tembo, 23, wants to divorce Bwalya Chanda, 25.

Tembo, a university graduate told the court that she married Chanda in 2015 against her parents’ wish and that the two have no children together.
She said when she married Chanda, all was well until he started beating her and seeing other women. Tembo told the court that Chanda beat her ruthlessly and for no apparent reason and stopped her from looking for a job despite her being a university graduate.

“My parents never wanted me to marry Chanda because he was a security guard but I stood by him and professed my love for him before my parents,” she said. Tembo further alleged that Chanda, who works at a company in the industrial area, also used to starve her.

She said when he got paid, Chanda would only buy eggs, tomatoes and a two kilogramme bag of mealie-mealie. Tembo said Chanda started seeing other women and she found out about the affairs when she went through his phone messages. She said in the phone, there were recordings, which indicated that Chanda was having an affair.

Tembo said she regrets having gone against her parents’ wish and only wants to end the marriage. But Chanda still insisted that Tembo was his wife and that he will never let her go. He asked the court to counsel them instead of granting them divorce. Ganerton senior presiding magistrate Mutono Banda adjourned the matter for judgement to a later date.