adminADULTERY, betrayal and lack of trust easily destroy marriages and families.
This wicked combination can also be tragic.
It has stolen all the marital bliss most couples were dreaming of during courtship.
It has cheapened the marriage institution, which used to be sacred.
Some aspiring couples are now even hesitant to enter the institution.
This follows a surge in cases of infidelity, which is seemingly being sanitised, by some morons.
Others are dying in silence, after years of being cheated and abused by their partners.
There are some who are now even taking infidelity as a hobby.
Others consider cheating as an achievement, yet they steal other people’s happiness.
There are also some legally married men, and women, who have lost count of the multiple partners they have cheated with.
This behaviour still remains immoral and totally unacceptable.
To be precise, this is not a sign of prestige but self-destruction.
In this era, there are some people who are bragging about their unholy unions with married partners.
There are even some daring marriage-wreckers who have the guts to hang on despite being warned against such illicit affairs.
This demon, which is spreading like a veld fire, needs to be exorcised.
As a nation, we can’t allow marriage wreckers to remain on the loose when the law is there to protect us.
In yesterday’s issue, we ran a touching story of a Harare woman who was made to pay US$20000 in damages, for an adulterous affair.
High Court judge, Justice Tawanda Chitapi, found the woman guilty of having an affair with a married man yet she knew about the status quo.
The woman started dating the man in 2014, a year after he was legally married to his official wife.
A child was born out of wedlock as a result of this affair.
The woman is said to have maintained this adulterous affair despite being warned on several occasions.
She remained defiant that she would certainly win the man’s heart yet it was an illicit affair.
In his landmark ruling, Justice Chitapi ordered the woman to pay US$10 000, in local currency using the interbank rate prevailing on the market, on the date of payment being damages for contumellia.
A further US$10 000 should also be paid as part of the cocktail of sanctions.
This landmark ruling should come as a lesson to marriage-wreckers that cheating does not pay.
It’s also a lesson for women to stay away from married men.
The same judgment also applies to men dating married women.
Besides the risk of being sued, there are also some people who have lost their lives for dating married partners.
This cancer should be tackled to make our beautiful country a better place to live.
Cheating is never an achievement.
Of course, poverty is driving some to cheat with married lovers but this is never a solution.
In short, let’s desist from infidelity and respect the marriage institution.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter