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Lovemore Kadzura
Rusape Correspondent
A MAKONI man who could not stomach being rejected by his married neighbour allegedly resorted to assaulting her.
Rabhani Dzveta of Nyamombe Village tried to lure Mrs Pamela Mafuta into an illicit affair, taking advantage of the prolonged absence of the latter’s husband who is in Botswana.
A distraught Mrs Mafuta told the traditional court that Dzveta was pestering her for an affair.
When she spurned his advances, Dzveta assaulted her.
“Dzveta visited my homestead and proposed love to me and I turned him down. He came back on the second day and I turned him down again. He became angry, asking why I was refusing to date him. He said l was dating other men in the village. He attacked me until I fell down. My two children witnessed the whole drama. He has no shame at all because his wife is my friend. He is also in the habit of hitting his wife,” Mrs Mafuta told the court.
Dzveta, however, denied ever proposing love to Mrs Mafuta, but admitted that he assaulted her.
He claimed that they fought as he was against his wife’s friendship with Mrs Mafuta.
“She is lying that I proposed love to her. We fought after I barred her from socialising with my wife. She is not of good moral standings, so I don’t want her to influence my wife. However, my wife is also defying my instructions and continues to befriend Mrs Mafuta. I have failed to control these two women.
“I approached Mrs Mafuta and told her to stay away from my wife. This angered her and she assaulted me. I retaliated, but now she is cooking up stories that I proposed love to her,” said Dzveta.
In his ruling, Chief Makoni said any form of violence cannot be tolerated. He branded Dzveta a village bully.
“We do not tolerate violence against women. Men should protect women but you are behaving like a village bully, moving around beating other men’s wives,” said Chief Makoni, before asking him to pay a fine of two beasts and a goat for the offence.
In Zimbabwe, gender-based violence is a criminal offence and about one in three women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Online Reporter