Polygamy is gospel, says retired major

” class=”f”>Zambia Daily Mail by Online Editor on 6/1/13

By KAPALA CHISUNKA
THE LUSAKA Boma Court has ordered a Lusaka man to pay his former wife KR20,000 as compensation after dissolving their 19-year-old marriage.
Senior court magistrate Morgan Kayanika ordered Major Coillard Hachundu of Chalala to pay Harriet Hachundu of the same township the money with an initial payment of KR1,000 June monthend to be followed by monthly instalments of KR500.
The court noted that there was no love in the marriage and ordered the couple to share property acquired together equally.
This was in a case in which Harriet sued Maj Hachundu (Rtd) for divorce. The two got married in 1994 and have two children together.
In her statement, Harriet told the court that problems in their marriage started in 2009 after Maj Hachundu fell sick. She said it was after his illness that she discovered that there was another woman in Maj Hachundus life.
She said one of the major problems in their marriage was that he wanted more children, which she failed to give him due to a biological complication. This situation prompted Hachundu to find another woman.
At first he refused knowing the woman, who had been sending him love text messages. But as the messages continued, he succumbed to the pressure and admitted. He told me that he wanted to marry another woman because I have failed to give him the five children that he wanted, she said.
Harriet told the court that during that period, Maj Hachundu stopped providing for his family and opted to spend all his money on his new-found love.
She said in 2008, Maj Hachundu was retired on medical grounds but he did not involve her as his wife in the whole process, including the time he finally got his retirement package.
When he got his retirement package, he bought houses and cars without sitting down with me to discuss and make plans for the future. Instead, he got his brother, whom he has been going on shopping sprees with, neglecting the children, she said.
Harriet said that their first-born child has even been unable to go to the University of Zambia for further education because he has failed to sponsor him.
When it became unbearable, I took him to the Victim Support Unit (VSU), where I was advised to sue for marriage reconciliation but he insisted that he wanted a polygamous marriage because he wants more children.
He knows it is not my fault that I have failed to give him five children, according to his desire. A divorce is better now because I do not love him anymore, she said.
In his statement, Maj Hachundu told the court that everything was good in their marriage until 1999 when Harriet decided to go for family planning without telling him.
He said he had informed her when they were getting married that he wanted a maximum of five children, so he was not pleased when she decided to go for family planning, which has subsequently resulted in her failure to have more children.
How can we be on family planning for 13 years? She knows I want more children. As for wanting to marry another woman, there is nothing wrong with being a polygamist because even the Bible is not against it. In fact, I had no intentions of divorcing her; just because I want to marry another woman does not mean I no longer love her, he said.
He said the other problem in their marriage was that Harriet did not want his relatives to visit them. He said the brother Harriet was complaining about is the one who acts as his aide for his disabil