The Kabushi Local Court has reprimanded a man who begged for a divorce because his wife of three years could not have children. Though senior local magistrate Evelyn Nalwizya reprimanded Davy Kaponda, 28, of Mushili and granted him the divorce, she also told him that children were from God. Kaponda begged the court to grant him divorce from Iness Suze 27, who she sued him, for divorce and compensation after he abandoned her at her parent’s home on pretext that he had gone to look for employment.

When the matter came up, Suze narrated that she married Kaponda in 2015. She said after a few years into marriage, her husband demanded that she should have a child as he could not continue being married to a woman who was not able to conceive because all his friends were fathers.

Ms Suze told the court that her husband then suggested to her that she should leave their matrimonial home to stay with her parents as he went to look for a job in Solwezi. She said when he returned, Mr Kaponda told her that he wanted a child as time was running out.

Ms Suze told the court that when he visited her at her parent’s home, he told her that he found a woman to marry, who had given him a child. “When I told my parents, they suggested we take back the bride price as having a child was not like buying a car, which they could buy for me if they had money,” she said. In his defence, Mr Kaponda did not dispute the claims by his wife.

He said he wanted to marry a woman who was able to conceive. Mr Kaponda said the couple tried the hospital to help establish why his wife could not conceive but to no avail. “We tried everything, from hospital to even herbs but she could not conceive. We were told at the hospital that her tubes are blocked,” he said. When the divorce was granted, the court ordered Mr Kaponda to pay his wife K6000 in instalments.