After being missing for months on a business trip to Kapiri that involved burning charcoal and leaving his wife behind, the 41-year old “garden boy” of Lusaka’s Chipata complex returned home to discover that his wife was expecting a child and had stopped producing juice for the infant.
A height-disadvantaged Bemba man of over 11 years of marriage, Dave Chishala is said to have taken a lengthy business trip in the dense undergrowth of Kapiri Mposhi to avoid having to care for his 28-year-old wife Mercy Mwenya and their four children for more than a year.
Even though the nation is currently dealing with the consequences of climate change, which are largely being caused by the removal of trees, Chishala felt it prudent to make a long-term investment in the charcoal industry.
His spouse, with whom he left with a breastfeeding child, then remained stranded and started failing to pay for the family’s rentals or feed her children, forcing her to start washing in people’s homes and carrying trash bins just to make ends meet.
Fortunately for Mwenya, a Knight in the less-than shiny amour of shovels and mortar came to her aid in October of last year. Andrew Phiri, a forty-three-year-old bricklayer, was enthralled with her bemba beauty and quickly proposed to her. Before he knew it, he was building bricks in another man’s foundation.
The two are said to have had a strong relationship, although Mwenya remained mum about her marital status.
When her husband eventually made his appearance, Mwenya would meet Phiri in the unfinished house he was building, and the two would mix like water and cement until another foundation was created, resulting in a two-month pregnancy.
By November, the devoted family Phiri By November, Phiri, a committed family man had finished his business and returned to his wife in Makeni.
And in the same November, the long awaited for Chishala finally returned back, and before he could ask about the well being of the children, his eyes communicated the questions he had in his mind..” how and when did his wife get pregnant, by whom?”
“When I found my wife pregnant, I asked her who was responsible and she just said it was Phiri from Makeni. So I accepted the pregnancy, kept it, in June, she delivered and in this month, I found Phiri in my house holding the baby.
“He told me he was with my wife’s friend and my wife also refused. I confronted him and he admitted saying that he is the father to our child.
So I went to call my sister in-law and he said that he is the one who impregnated my wife because she (Mwenya) told him that she was not married. That is how I took him to the police and got his shoes and two phones,” said Chishala.
After taking his brown Papa like shoes, Chishala even made sure that Phiri slept in police cells, and told the Matero Local court that he wanted k30,000 compensation from him as he paid dowry of k4,000 in full towards his wife.
But Phiri accepted fathering the brown skin baby boy but said it was because he never knew she was married.
“I left the area after I finished building and never called her. But she would call me and told me she was pregnant.
I ignored her until In June when she called me and told me that she delivered and I should name the child but I refused because I didn’t sponsor the pregnancy. But after seeing that it was serious, I had to follow her and go into the house where her husband found me.”
“But my question to her is why did she lie to me that she was not married? I only paid for her rentals without visiting her home because they were kids. Also, why did she ask me to visit her in a house where she knew her husband was present because I wasn’t happy that day I spent a night in police and was supposed to be honest,” complained Phiri.
But in Mwenya’s defence, she told the court that both of the two men were just her baby daddies as non of them paid dowry for her, adding that Chishala was lying about paying a k4,000 to her late parents.
“Yes, I told him (Phiri) that I had no husband but I did so because he had abandoned me and I had no way of taking care of my children and paying rent.
When we started knowing each other, he asked me where the father to my children and I told him that he went for charcoal Business and went forever for two years and he said he would help me pay rent.”
“My husband would say that he buried money of K7,000 in the bush and that he wanted to invest it once he returned, but only came back home with little charcoal and Lumanda in a plastic. He has put me through a lot, he is not even my husband. I’m tired of feeding him and paying his rentals. I don’t even have where to sleep, my children even look dirty,” complained Mwenya.
But in passing judgement, the court established that the two men were both only Mwenya’s boyfriends as none of them paid for her hand in marriage. Therefore, the case for compensation for adultery was dismissed.
“The court cannot give him a case to answer because despite living with her, she is not your wife but a woman of the whole nation. You men must learn to pay dowry for these women before getting them,” Magistrate Harriet Mulenga said.
“As a court, we do not support men who fail to support their children. You cannot be falling to keep her no matter the small income you get. That is not good, we should not be treating our children like that. You can’t just be cycling a bicycle without oiling it. This is why we have high rates of junkies in our communities because of such homes.”
“[Phiri], you are a family man. Your wife doesn’t even know that you are here for adultery. You bricklayers are problems, if you cant survive to stay without sleeping with a woman for two months, carry your wives,” the Magistrate told Phiri.
The court also advised Chishala to pay for Mwenya’s dowry if he still wants her as a wife, and if he is ready to take up his responsibilities.
