A TEXT message which read “Let’s meet at Gonde Lodge at 13:00 hours” was enough for Mabvuto Banda, 35, to lose interest in Doreen Habasimbi, 27, just seven months into their marriage. Banda told the Chawama Local Court that he no longer wants to stay with Habasimbi, who he has since sued for divorce. Banda told the court that he came across a message from a man in his wife’s simcard when he put it in his phone. “My wife rushes outside whenever she picks up a phone call.

I have found a lot of messages from different men in her phone and this has made me lose interest in her,” he said. Banda also told the court that Habasimbi threatens to kill herself when they have a misunderstanding. He told the court that the couple’s families have sat them down five times to counsel Habasimbi but she does not show any signs of changing.

“I will be in problems when she kills herself. It is better for us to divorce now when she is still alive. Last time, I was called from work when she almost killed herself. I went home rushing,” Banda said. But Habasimbi, in her defence, told the court that there is no need for the couple to divorce. She said she still loves her husband and that Banda is the source of problems in their marriage.

“ The issue is that my husband is fond of going back to his former wife on the pretext that he is going to see his children when in fact not. His former wife also likes calling him, something I don’t like,” Habasimbi said. In passing judgement, magistrate Lewis Mumba dismissed the claim for divorce on grounds