PROSECUTOR, WIFE FIGHT OVER CELLPHONES AND SEX

MBABANE – Nasty!

A fallout between a senior ranking prosecutor and his wife is bringing to the fore bedroom secrets that have marred the couple’s marriage.

It all began when the prosecutor went to court to seek an order that the wife should surrender to him two mobile phones and a laptop.

The prosecutor claimed that the electronic gadgets; a Samsung Galaxy S3, Huawei P30 and a black laptop, are his as they were bought for him by his employer – the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs – from MTN Eswatini on or about March 2013 and July 2019 for official use.

He informed the court that the Samsung Galaxy S3 was delivered to him personally and the Huawei P30 Pro was allegedly   received on his behalf by one Senzo Mavuso, who was his colleague at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

The prosecutor pointed out that Xolile was his wife, whom they shared a house with prior to her allegedly commencing with the recently instigated inappropriate conduct towards him. 

According to the prosecutor, his wife allegedly misappropriated the two work cellphones at their homestead without his consent and knowledge.

“I cannot readily point out a specific date or dates upon which she appropriated the cellphones on the basis that, I used same for a while to storing them safely in our bedroom, as such I would not bother checking on them on a daily basis,” averred the applicant.

minor disagreement

He told the court that he duly took note recently that the cellphones were now being utilised by his wife without his permission. 

“In the commencement of the month of  August 2020, we had what I perceived as a minor disagreement with the first respondent (wife, just like any other married couple). It has seemingly taken a turn for the worst, as during the whole week of August 7, 2020 it escalated her untoward conduct against me,” he argued.

These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court.

According to the prosecutor, his wife used his two work cellphones to call him during the day when he was at work for purposes of hailing unpalatable words and insults in a bid to provoke peace between them.

“Secondly, there is work-related information data which was left in my cellphones prior to keeping them safe in our room, which I wish to retrieve urgently.  It relates to a case I once handled,” alleged the prosecutor.

He contended that he had made this request to his wife but due to the height of her alleged malice conduct towards him, she threatened to destroy the cellphones. 

lawful owner

The prosecutor argued that he had as a result been left with no other available option than to seek the court’s assistance in getting back his cellphones.

“I state that, the continued possession of my property by the first respondent is unlawful as she is not the owner of same. I am advised that, as the lawful owner of these two properties, I am entitled and have a right to vindicate them from whosoever is found in possession of same,” he submitted.

He further alleged that he had reasonable fear that his wife might destroy the property to his prejudice. The prosecutor said his imperative work and personal data contained in the cellphones might be permanently lost to his great prejudice.

An interim order was then issued by Manzini-based Magistrate Sindisiwe Zwane for the return of the electronic gadgets.

However, the wife has filed her own papers in which she alleges that the prosecutor wants to gain possession of the gadgets because he suspects that she is having an extra-marital affair.

She claims the prosecutor deserted their matrimonial home in June 2020, which led to her reporting the desertion to her brother-in-law (prosecutor’s elder brother).

She alleges that the prosecutor then began accusing her of having sex with his elder brother.

“That is when the applicant (prosecutor) started searching for my cellphone with the hope that he would gather evidence to substantiate his unfounded and malicious allegations that I am having sex with his elder brother,” the wife alleged.

She said the malicious accusations by the prosecutor have been addressed in family meetings where it was explained to her husband that there was nothing sinister about her reporting her problems to her husband’s relatives.

She claims to have been reporting issues to her brother-in-law for the past 13 years of her marriage.

Relating her side of the story regarding the electronic gadgets, the wife says the exchange of gifts between lovers is a common feature which characterises every relationship and married couples are not an exception to this habit.

She alleges that around 2013 her husband bought her a new laptop which she was to use for her studies at the Institute of Development Management (IDM) where she was a student.

The laptop, she claims, was brand new and sealed in its manufacture’s box when she received it.

gift

She claims that in 2015, her husband gave her the Samsung Galaxy S3 cellphone as a gift.

“I accepted this gift from my husband as a token of love he had for me. This cellphone was fairly used but it had no data stored in it. I used this phone for a long time until it sadly fell on the ground and it split into pieces,” she alleges.

She claims that thereafter, the cellphone had mechanical problems relating to its charging system and battery and, because of these, she threw it into the waste bin since it was no longer usable.

She alleges to have informed her husband about this and he reportedly understood. The wife claims that the prosecutor bought her another cellphone, the Huawei P30 Pro, in 2019.

“While I was reversing my car, I accidentally ran over this phone as it had fallen to the ground and it was crushed into pieces. I reported the cellphone damage to the applicant and that was when the problems began. The applicant started demanding that I return all his things he had bought for me. We had serious quarrels and problems in our marriage,” she alleged.

The truth of the matter, alleges the wife, is that the cellphones are not the real problem underlying in the marriage.

“The problem is that the applicant does not accord me conjugal rights anymore and he pours his frustration on me,” she alleged. She said the year 2019 continued on a rollercoaster of problems which continued unabated into 2020 when the prosecutor reported her to the umphakatsi (royal kraal) for disrespecting him.

meeting

She said the umphakatsi convened a meeting between the couple’s families.

“I advised the meeting that I never disrespected the applicant but the real problem was that we were no longer having sexual intercourse as a couple,” she alleged. She said the meeting advised them to sort their problems but the prosecutor allegedly never made any attempt to resolve same.

“When I tried to engage him he would tell me that I was too talkative. Several subsequent family meetings were held and the issues would be the same – he would accuse me of being too talkative and I would inform the meeting that was not the case but the fact that the applicant fails to have sexual intercourse with me,” the wife further alleged. She claimed that in June 2020, the prosecutor came in the company of certain relatives in the extended family and packed his belongings. The wife said she called his parents, sister and elder brother to inform them about what had happened.

She said this was then followed by the court application. She said on August 12, 2020, the prosecutor arrived at their matrimonial home to effect the interim order on her but she demanded that the police should be present because they had been cited in the proceedings and indeed, they came.

interfering

She accuses her husband of not only interfering with the execution of the court processes but literally took over the same whereby he even instructed the messenger of court to search her for evidence of communications she had with his elder brother.

“The Messenger of Court, Mr Bongani Zikalala, refused to search me. The applicant thereupon ordered the police to search me. The police also refused to search me,” the wife claimed.

She said the applicant’s actions constitute an interference with the processes of the court, reducing the entire proceedings into a mockery.

She argued the fact that her husband holds a senior prosecutorial position and is also a former presiding officer did not entitle him to assume the position of the court and its officers.

“I humbly submit that the applicant is guilty of abuse of court processes in that he has instituted these proceedings in pursuit of an illegal objective to search for evidence of communications between myself and his family members with the hope that he will buttress his unfounded allegations of an affair between me and his elder brother,” she alleged.

developments

She further told of developments that happened on August 12 when the prosecutor reportedly called a family meeting soon after the messenger of court had left.

In that meeting, she alleged the prosecutor undertook to withdraw the court proceedings on condition that she gave him the cellphones.

“Since the phones were destroyed, I offered to buy the applicant new ones, he refused and insisted that he wants the one I am using because there is evidence of infidelity against me in those phones,” she alleged.

Assault and throttling

The wife also alleged that on August 13, 2020, her husband came back to their matrimonial home whereupon he demanded that she should give him the cellphones.

“This is despite the fact that there was already in place an order of court whose execution is in the hands of the messenger of court, not the applicant. The applicant stood in the road blocking my way out of the homestead. I tried to reason with him but he was uncompromising. Eventually the applicant assaulted me and I fought back. The applicant twisted and broke my arm and it is currently swollen. The applicant further throttled me and twisted me and injured my neck,” she alleged. 

cellphones required by govt

 She said in a further meeting held at the umphakatsi on August 16, 2020, at the prosecutor’s instance, he allegedly changed the story by saying the cellphones were required by government for purposes of auditing since they were the property of the State. The wife said the umphakatsi ruled that her husband should return to their matrimonial home and resolve his family problems instead of the conduct he had engaged in.

“I therefore humbly submit that the applicant ought not to be heard by the above honourable court for having taken the law unto himself despite the fact that he has a court order in his favour and there was no need for him to engage in the conduct he has resorted to,” she argued. She said from the totality of the facts presented, it was crystal clear that her husband was abusing the court process in furtherance of his witch hunt against her. She said the prosecutor must hire a private investigator if he so believes there is such evidence he needed to collect against her. 

“To put the issue beyond doubt, even though in his papers the applicant has sought the return of the laptop he gave me as a gift, he has not insisted on it until now. This is simply because there is no ‘evidence’ in the laptop. The laptop is currently in my possession and I shall await the messenger of court to collect it,” the wife said.

She stated that on the day of execution of the order, the messenger of court had to leave unceremoniously after he had a misunderstanding with the prosecutor upon the messenger’s refusal to heed an unlawful instruction allegedly made by her husband.

“In the interim I humbly pray that the honourable court orders the applicant to maintain peace with me as he assaulted me, keeps on threatening me by saying that ‘uya black-out yena’ (he sometimes gets to the point of losing his temper); he also calls me and hurls insults at me stating that I am a prostitute and he will collect everything at our homestead to leave me in destitution (utokuba secamgwaco ngoba uyagwadla),” the wife added.  

The prosecutor is represented by lawyers from MLK Ndlangamandla while appearing for the wife is Dumisani Hleta of DEMHLETA Legal. The matter is still pending in court.

Prosecutor evicts wife from home

The fallout between the senior prosecutor and his wife reached rock bottom on August 22, 2020 when he reportedly kicked her out of their matrimonial home.

According to the wife, her husband arrived at their matrimonial home in the company of the chief’s runner (umgijimi), two cousins and another relative.

She alleged that without any lets, her husband ordered her to open the house and he took a duvet cover, packed her belongings and told her to leave the matrimonial home.

“When I protested the first respondent’s actions, he told me that he was expelling me for contesting the proceedings in court. In SiSwati, he said ngichudzelane naye ngebameli etinkantolo (I am competing with him through attorneys in court),” she alleged.

She said those accompanying her husband distanced themselves from his actions and they reportedly stated that they did not accompany him to do what he was doing.

She claimed the husband could hear none of it and insisted that she should leave the homestead.

“The first respondent thereupon violently grabbed me and twisted my arm to force me to surrender the keys to the matrimonial home so that I could not gain entry thereto. His companions intervened and restrained him from continuing with his act of violence towards me,” she alleged, and stated that when they left them in the compound she proceeded to the local police station. 

She said she left with her two children who saw all that was happening and, together, they slept in her motor vehicle outside the police station.

She said her father, who is fully aware of what is happening, directed that she should return to the matrimonial home because customarily her family could not allow her to return to her parental homestead unless the formal process of returning her (kumuchuba) was observed.

slept at police station

“Otherwise, my family stood to face proceedings of keeping the (husband’s surname’s) wife if they were to allow me to return without being accompanied by umyeni as proof that indeed it was the (in-law’s surname) who were sending me back to my parental home,” she said.

She said eventually she had to sleep at the police station since she had nowhere to go.

“The first respondent chased me out together with our minor children (girls) aged six years and three, respectively,” she alleged.

She said on the second night (August 23) they slept at her friend’s house at Ka-Khuphuka Clinic where she is a nurse. She then filed a court application seeking an order for restoration of possession or occupation of the matrimonial home.

“I humbly submit that the dispossession of the homestead by the first respondent is unlawful and amounts to an act of spoliation in that the first respondent evicted me without a court order and without my consent,” he argued.  She submitted that even if the customary practice of kubopha umtfwalo was applicable in this case. It was unlawful for her husband to expel her together with their two children. “Furthermore, the customary practice does not permit the ditching of the bride in the cold without any place to sleep in, customarily, the Umyeni must accompany the bride to her parental homestead,” she said. She stated that this was not the case hence the dilemma on her father’s side that he could not allow her to return to her parental home because of the possibility of being fined a cow for keeping someone’s wife. The court has granted her an interim order to return to her matrimonial home.  

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