‘I’m tired of being a small house’

Mpumelelo Nyoni Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman has told a maintenance court that she was tired of being a “small house”.
Sibonginkosi Dube dragged Dennis Lingola, 53, to court seeking $362 for the upkeep of their three minor children.Lingola, who lives with two of their children in Harare with his lawful wife, revealed that he recently discovered that Dube had another boyfriend.

He claimed that the man, a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), sent him death threats while he was in Harare ordering him to appear at the maintenance court in Bulawayo.

“Your Worship, for the past two weeks I have been receiving death threats from this woman’s boyfriend. He told me to come to court today or he would send people to deal with me. I’m not even allowed to see my last born son anymore because of him,” said Lingola.

Dube denied the allegations but instead accused him of neglecting her and their three-year-old son.

“I’m tired of being his small-house Your Worship. We have three children together but he doesn’t take care of me. I had to send our two children to him and his wife so as to lessen the burden. The problem is that he doesn’t take care of me and our three-year-old son that is why I ended our affair,” said Dube.

Magistrate Victor Mpofu castigated Lingola for not taking care of his child.

“You are an old man. 53 years is not a joke. You have a five-decade age gap between you and your last born. As such, you must be responsible enough to take care of all your children,” said Mpofu.

The magistrate ordered Lingola to pay $110 as maintenance for his child from the end of July.