A FORTY-year old woman of New Kanyama Township in Lusaka has surrendered her 22-year marriage to her husband’s girlfriend.

This is in a matter where Anita Muntanga has sued to divorce her husband Clever Mukupa 42 of the same area.

Muntanga told the Lusaka Boma Local Court that her husband introduced a third party into their matrimonial home, in form of his girlfriend who comes complete with a baggage of two children from her previous entanglements.

She lamented that her ‘outgoing’ husband introduced the ‘triangle of love’ by claiming that it was only a mistake that he promised to correct by sending the girlfriend away after a short stay during which she would be looking for a job, as she had no where else to go.

Since he retained the head of the house role despite his philandering ways, Muntanga let the presence of the girlfriend in the house slide until her husband started waking up in the middle of the night, with the precision of clockwork, to allegedly watch television.

Muntanga narrated that her husband developed a tendency of sneaking out of the matrimonial bedroom around 04:00 hours in the morning under the pretext of watching television but only used its volume to drown the noises emanating from sex he was having with his squatting girlfriend.

“When he sneaks out of our bedroom around 04:00 hours, he switches on the television set and pretends to be watching it when he is infact having sex with the girlfriend. I noticed his behavioural patterns every now and then around 04:00 hours but I didn’t pay much attention until I found them in the act one morning that is why I left the house to allow them to be happy. I want no part in that kind of life style,” she told the court.

Muntanga added that apart from bringing another woman into their matrimonial home, the only energy her husband reserved for her was the violent beatings every time the two have a dispute.

When given chance to tell the court his side of the story, Mukupa said his wife was being economical with the truth, as she already knew that his girlfriend’s status had been upgraded to that of his second wife.

Mukupa also accused his wife of being problematic and that is why he turned her into a punching bag on a few occasions.

“One time we stayed for five months without paying rentals without my knowledge.

I would give her money but she never paid the rentals until the landlord locked me inside the house that we have gone for months without paying,” Mukupa narrated.

In defence Muntanga said she agreed with the landlord not to pay the rentals in order to finance her business.

She added that she omitted telling her husband because he would not allow using money meant for rentals as an IMF-styled bailout package for her business.

Despite his transgressions, Mukupa begged his wife to reconsider her divorce suit and instead repeated his marriage vows that he loved her and that not even the arrival of his second wife should put them asunder.

“I am not ready to end this marriage, I love you Muntanga. But a woman is very difficult,” Mukupa said.

The couple has been married since 2000 and has three children aged between 22 and 7 years.

After trying, albeit in vain, to convince Muntanga to rescind her decision, Senior local court Justice Contrudah Kamono dissolved the union noting that Muntanga was no longer interested in the marriage.

Justice Kamono noted that the two had been on separation since November last year and instead of Mukupa ensuring they resolve their differences, he blacklisted his wife which has landed them in court.

She added that the court does not wish to divorce couples but reconcile them, however, marriage is a voluntary union in which the court cannot compel anyone to stay in.

For his troubles, Justice Kamono ordered Mukupa to compensate his ex-wife with a K20,000 and support his children with K700 every month which excludes school fees and medical requirements.