A WIFE who slept on her duty to inform her husband that the mealie-meal in her kitchen had run out is now facing divorce charges from her husband. But the husband’s move to take his wife to court stunned Senior Local Court magistrate Kambole Nyoni who could not believe whether Evaristo Sitonge, was advancing a true reason to divorce his wife, Loveness Jere.

But Sitonge firmly stood on his grounds and told the court the reason he wanted to divorce his wife was because she did not inform him that mealie-meal had finished in the house. “Your honour, I only heard from my sister in law that mealie-meal had finished in the house. My wife did not tell me anything, this is the reason why I want to divorce her,” he said. Sitonge charged that his wife was supposed to inform him that mealie-meal had finished in the house a week ago, rather than keeping quiet.

He said as a man of the house, he has never failed to buy mealie-meal and always does that when it finishes. Sitonge wondered where his wife got the mealie-meal she was using to cook nshima for the past one week. “ Mwechilye (Your honour), I want my wife to tell me where she got the mealiemeal we have been eating. In my life, I have never bought a ‘pamela’ before, I always buy large quantities,” he said. Sitonge has since chased his wife and wants the court to end their eight-year marriage.

He also accused his wife of failing to perform her marital duties. He also wondered why his monther -in-law could not bring back his wife after he chased her so that they could resolve the problem of mealie-meal. And Jere acknowledged she did not inform her husband that mealie-meal had finished in the house.

She said the reason she did not do so is because he knew he had not yet been paid. “I was waiting for him to get paid, so this is the reason why I did not inform him about mealie-meal finishing in the house,” she said. Jere said since she is a trader, she bought a pamela at the market as she waited for her husband to get paid. She also accused her husband of sexually starving her and telling her that he has fallen out of love. Jere said her husband also tells her that the woman he loved and wanted to marry is married elsewhere. The court adjourned the matter to December 30, 2019.