FAILURE to handle anger has cost a 37-year-old man of Lusaka his marriage of 14 years. Elias Kawalika allegedly breaks households goods as a way of venting his anger whenever he is upset. His wife, Gift Namumba, 32, told the court that her husband, with whom she has three children, breaks plates when he is angered. She was testifying in a matter in which she sued Kawalika for divorce. “My husband stops eating and smashes the plates on the wall whenever he gets angry.

I am scared that he might strangle me one day, he shivers when he gets upset,” Namumba said. She told the court that most of the household goods have been broken by Kawalika. Namumba said it is better for the couple to separate now. “Our families have even given up on our marriage because my husband does not change.

My husband has also been threatening to kill me and I am tired of losing my life,” she said. Namumba told the court that Kawalika is irresponsible and that she struggles alone to fend for the couple’s children. And Kawalika, in his defence, told the court that he breaks household goods to avoid beating his wife. “I broke my plasma television because I was very upset, the problem is that my wife has lost respect for me,” he said. Kawalika told the court that Namumba is being influenced by her friend and that she does not take advice.

He said his wife tells him to find another woman if he is tired of her. “My wife has shifted to our children’s bedroom, she has also been denying me conjugal rights,” Kawalika said. In passing judgement, magistrate Miyanda Banda granted the couple divorce because there is violence in their marriage. He ordered Kawalika to compensate Namumba with K5,000 and support his children with K500 monthly.