A TWENTY-TWO-YEAROLD woman of Misisi Township alleged before the Matero local court that she was made to drink urine so that she is cured of HIV/ AIDS. Rachael Masina testified before magistrate Lewis Mumba that her husband, Gift Malambo, 22, told her that the virus would disappear if she drank urine. Masina was testifying in a case in which she sued Malambo for divorce.

The couple got married in 2015 and has one child together. “My husband forced me to start taking injections on the pretext that he was protecting me from a sickness which he did not tell me,” she said. Masina told the court that Malambo got ill a few months after their marriage and was later taken to the village where he started taking traditional medicine.

She said he also advised her to start taking the same herbs and told her that he was protecting himself from an illness he was suffering from. Masina told the court that she only discovered that she was HIV positive when she went to the clinic for antenatal. “On several occasions, my husband has refused to go to the clinic for medical check-up,” she said. Masina told the court that Malambo deserted her and went to the village to marry. Malambo in his defence told the court that it was Masina who deserted the matrimonial home.

“Problems in our marriage started when I developed sores on my manhood. I went t to the village for medical help,” he said. Malambo told the court that he is not the one who infected Masina with the virus because he was found negative at the clinic. In passing judgement, the court granted the couple divorce on grounds that there was lack of love and trust in the marriage