A WIFE of Kitwe could not hide her emotions as she lamented in court how her husband, who is a reverend at one of the Pentecostal churches in Wusakile, sleeps with female church members in his office under the guise of holding deliverance prayers.

This is in a matter in which Beauty Nkandu, 41, has sued her husband Kenneth Bwalya, 45, for divorce. Nkandu, explained in court that she has gone through physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, who she has been married to for 13 years. She accused her husband of being a womaniser who has a tendency of marrying women without her consent. Nkandu explained that her husband also has a tendency of coming home with shaved private parts and when she queries him, a fight ensues. “I am tired of this marriage and I just want divorce.

I have gone through a lot in this marriage and I can no longer tolerate such things,” she said. Nkandu accused her husband of marrying another woman in Kitwe’s Bulangililo Township, where he spends all his time and money. She said Bwalya does not buy food at home and has completely neglected his duties as a husband. “I can’t even walk with my head high as a wife of the reverend.

His office is the meeting place for the women at church,” she said. Nkandu said she has been a good wife to Bwalya and had on several occasions assisted him with money to start business. But Bwalya pleaded with the court not to grant divorce because he was a reverend at church and would not want to be a bad example to his flock.

He said his wife does not respect him and is a drunkard who has refused to change. “Please your honour, I am a reverend at church. It would look bad if I divorce my wife,” Bwalya pleaded with Ganerton senior principal presiding magistrate Mutono Banda. But Nkandu still insisted that they should divorce. Magistrate Banda adjourned the matter to a later date.