A cohabiting Lusaka couple’s once-rosy passion has devolved into a bitter legal fight, after skillfully squeezing all degrees of sweetness from each other before formally getting married.
Ackim Tukuluho, a man who once envisioned his future in Rabecca Khondowe, found himself caught in a loveless relationship he never agreed to and sought the quickest and most efficient way out of the union, identifying the Matero Local Court as the vehicle.
The couple’s narrative began like a fairy tale, with two souls seeking peace in one another’s companionship.
However, as time went, the sweetness of their love became sour, leaving Tukuluho feeling stifled by Khondowe’s demands and that his heart had moved elsewhere.
Tukuluho decided to pursue a lawsuit.
He claimed that although living in the same house with her, his status in her life was limited to ‘babe’ and would never progress to ‘hubby’.
“I am the one paying rentals in the house and I am no longer interested in marrying her but her family is forcing me to pay dowry, I don’t want, so I come here so the court can help me because I cant marry her, I no longer love her,” Tukuluho wrote to the judge.
However, Khondowe stated that she was already persuaded Tukuluho was her husband because he had paid Nsalamu to her family to engage her.
However, the judge reminded her that ‘Nkobekela te chupo’ (engagement is not marriage). Khondowe claimed she could.
“I want him to move out of the house instead because I am the one who found it. He paid nsalamu already and we live together so I do not understand him,” said Khondowe.
But Magistrate Harriet Mulenga dismissed the case for reconciliation over forced marriage, indicating that the case lacked merit.
“He can pay nsalamu to many women but that is not marriage, what constitutes the marriage is dowry. So you must understand that he never married you,” said Magistrate Mulenga.
