admin
FEBRUARY is known as the month of love and there was no better illustration of this than the displays of affection on Valentinea��s Day which fell on a Tuesday this week.
Despite the fact that all and sundry are labouring under tough economic conditions, many made the effort to please their partners.
Roses and teddy bears disappeared from gift shops while chocolates were picked off store shelves by lovers eager to impress those dearest to their hearts.
It was a spectacle that shone despite the fact that some believed this yeara��s Valentinea��s Day did not live up to what the city used to offer on this special day in their heyday.
However, the sceptics among us might have reason to doubt the sincerity of this sudden explosion of red and outpouring of affection that was evident wherever one turned on Tuesday.
A simple look at headlines around the country points to the fact many unions are in fact, in trouble, with disharmony in many marriages driving some to desperate action, sometimes tragically so.
It is never nice to see a couple split but that is the reality that a lot of people that had planned their lives together currently face in modern day Zimbabwe.
According to reports in the media, 1 102 couples applied for divorce in Bulawayo and Harare alone, just between January and July 2015. During the same period, 129 divorces were granted in Harare, while 44 were granted in Bulawayo.
According to some statistics, couples seeking divorce jumped from 96 to 157 per month between 2012 and 2015.
Needless to say the statistics for 2016, whenever they are released, will likely be just as damning.
The reasons for these life changing splits are many and varied.
a�?Economic challenges are forcing spouses to separate because one leaves for the diaspora, where communication is limited, resulting in one forgetting the other spouse,a�? said Deborah Choga of Pundu and Company Legal Practitioners told our sister paper the Sunday News last year.
It can hardly be in question that distance tears the fabric of any relationship and it takes a certain kind of discipline and dedication to be able to withstand long periods of time without your partner.
Perhaps the disintegration of many marriages is also down to the fact that many Zimbabweans are losing the ability to talk out problems.
In this age where everyone dedicates large portions of their time to smartphones, one wonders if couples have time to sit down and hash out the failings in their unions. Interactions between people has been forever altered by the entrants of new technologies and it is not inconceivable to think that this could be responsible for the breakdown in communication in some marriages. .
Online Reporter