Man dumps ill wife, daughter

Senior Court Reporter
A 32-year-old man from Victoria Falls has dumped his wife and their five-year-old daughter because the two are too sick, a magistrate heard.Peiye Mtisi, of Chinotimba Township, was customarily married to Nokuthula Mlilo, 34, for eight years and ended their marriage last month, as he moved in with another woman, who is reportedly pregnant.

Magistrate Sharon Rosemani was told that Mtisi, a barber by profession, abandoned his wife and their five-year-old daughter after they both fell ill last month.

“I am sick and cannot go to work because my chest is very painful. He fell ill and I was nursing him for six months and now I could be having TB which means I will not be able to go to work for six months. So I will need money while I recover,” said Mlilo.

She had dragged Mtisi to the Maintenance Court claiming $120 for herself and the daughter who she said was no longer going to school because her parents have not paid fees.

Mlilo, also a hairdresser, said her daughter was also not well and she cannot afford to buy medicine for her.

“My daughter is not going to school because she is sick.  Who will take care of us because I am also not feeling well?” Mlilo asked.
In his defence, Mtisi denied abandoning his family, saying he moved out of his matrimonial rented house because Mlilo’s family refused to accept him as a son-in-law.

Mlilo accused Mtisi of being irresponsible and a gold digger who wanted to depend on a woman’s savings.

“He is irresponsible, a gold digger. He only wants to marry a woman who is employed and you shall see very soon he will leave that woman he has married as soon as she gives birth. He once did this and left home because I had stopped working and came back later and now he is talking of wanting to come back again, not this time. You will be surprised that I had to force him to visit his family in his rural area seven years after he last went there,” said Mlilo after leaving the courtroom.

She said at some point her family complained that she was the one providing for Mtisi as she would provide for the family while he did nothing.

The couple has been having marital problems and Mtisi has a pending case of physical abuse in court after he allegedly assaulted his wife.
Mtisi told the magistrate he cannot afford to pay $120 per month and magistrate Rosemani ordered him to pay $80 per month.