5 TEKA MARRIAGES DISSOLVED IN ONE DAY

MBABANE – On Friday, five Eswatini Law and Custom marriages were declared to be dissolved by the High Court.

The applicants had approached the court seeking orders that the marriages be declared to have been dissolved and the marriage certificates be expunged from the register of the registrar of births, marriages and deaths. The applications were heard by Acting Judge Justice Mavuso. One of applicants was a businesswoman who is based in Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa. She told the court that before she left for Cape Town, her husband assaulted her in the face for about two hours in order to make her unattractive to men. *Nomalanga informed the court that one child, who is seven years old, was born of the marriage which was solemnised on February 8, 2016. She stated that shortly after getting married, they moved in together at a rented flat in Mbabane, where they lived as husband and wife. Nomalanga told the court that they started experiencing marital problems in the same year and her husband, *Musa, began abusing her physically, emotionally and psychologically. She submitted that Musa made false accusations against her to the effect that she was having extra- marital affairs with different men.

Cousins

In the same year of their marriage, according to Nomalanga, her husband went through her WhatsApp messages on her mobile phone. “He noticed that I had been chatting with one of my cousins. My cousin had used cordial words like ‘dear’ and ‘love’ in the messages he had sent. The first respondent (Musa) saw red after reading the messages,” Nomalanga submitted. She said Musa confronted her and demanded answers regarding the messages. Nomalanga said before she could provide answers, Musa slapped her across the face several times. “This was the beginning of the physical abuse I suffered at the hands of the first respondent. From then onwards, the first respondent had reduced me into his punching bag. On numerous times he would assault me with fists and sticks and I would sustain injuries,” she added. She said she would often pack her belongings and go to her parental home, which is also in Mbabane, a stone’s throw from their rented flat. When her parents summoned Musa to enquire as to why he ill-treated her, she said he apologised and they would reconcile and she would go back to their flat.

“The cycle would repeat itself over and over again. Nomalanga said while working in a salon at Sidwashini in April 2019, her supervisor sent her to purchase stock from a supplier and along the way she got a lift from a certain motorist who played music in the vehicle. She informed the court that she accidentally dialled Musa’s number and when he answered, he heard the music in the background ‘and I was not hearing and responding to the phone’. Upon returning to the salon, her colleagues told her that her livid husband had been there looking for her.
“When I got back in the house in the evening, he started accusing me of infidelity. He told me that I had made the phone call on purpose to merely spite him and show off that I was now in a relationship with someone who owned a car. As I was trying to explain to him what had happened, he slapped me across my face so hard that I almost fell. “As if that was not enough, he took a big stick and started assaulting me all over the body. He hit me with the stick even on my head and mouth. He told me that he wanted to cause serious injuries on my face so that men could lose interest in me. The intense beating took about two hours,” she narrated.

Nomalanga said she sustained severe injuries and for a couple of weeks, she could neither sleep nor eat properly. During the assault, according to the applicant, Musa kept making death threats. She said he told her that he would kill her and she packed her belongings and left for her parental home. In July 2019, said Nomalanga, her husband brought another woman to the flat and they were engaged to be married, not long after she had left. “They are sleeping in the same bed I was sleeping with him in. They had a baby in 2020.” Nomalanga said she moved to Cape Town in pursuit of a better life and now runs a business in the beauty industry. Realising that their marriage existed only on paper, she suggested to her husband that they involved their families to formally nullify it. She said Musa was happy about the suggestion and both families met on September 25 last year.

Families

Early this year, she told the court, their families approached the royal kraal to report that the marriage had run its course and it could no longer be saved. Nomalanga then filed an application at the High Court for an order to endorse the decision of the families and the royal kraal that the marriage had been properly dissolved and to direct the registrar of births, marriages and deaths to cancel its entry in her records. Judge Mavuso granted the order. In another matter, a man of Lomahasha filed for divorce from his wife whom he found in his house with other men on different occasions. *Thabo said he once filed a missing person’s report with the police when she disappeared from home, leaving their four minor children, including a baby who was a few months old, on their own. He said nobody knew where she had disappeared to. Thabani said he and *Sonto were married in September 2009 in terms of Eswatini Law and Custom and they established their marital home at Lomahasha. He told the court that cracks began to show in 2015 when he caught his wife with another man in the flat he occupied at his workplace. He said Sonto told him that it did not mean anything and immediately apologised and said it would not happen again. “Although I told her to leave, after a meeting of  both our families in May 2015, I forgave her and took her back with open arms. Our agreement was that she would no longer stay with me at the company house but she would move back to our marital home. “Unfortunately, having come back to our matrimonial home in June 2016, the first respondent (Sonto) disappeared from our home for four days, leaving behind our three children with baby who was only a few months old.

“The situation escalated to the point that I had to file a missing person report at the police station. She promised to change her ways after the police and her family spoke to her upon her return,” said Thabani. He told the court that one day, he came to their matrimonial home unannounced and found Sonto with another man in their house. “This was the last straw,” he said.
Thabo said their families met and tried to find a solution and they agreed to end the marriage. The families, according to Thabo, also met at the royal kraal and the marriage was declared dissolved. He approached the High Court for an order to expunge the marriage entry from the register of the registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Judge Mavuso issued the order.
In yet another matter, Judge Mavuso also ordered the expunging of a marriage after the woman told the court that their union had not been peaceful and resulted in many conflicts.
In another matter, a woman told the court that her marriage with her husband was no longer sweet and peaceful, as a result she was no longer interest in it. The court ordered that its entry be expunged from the records of the Births, Marriages and Deaths registrar.

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