Marriage is a gamble, especially in a society that takes pride in one’s independence. Edwin Louis Cole, the famous author once said; Marriage may be the closest thing to Heaven or Hell any of us will know on this earth. This statement rings true.
Even the best marriages have moments of extreme torment in them. This next story from Zimbabwe illustrates the vagaries of one man’s wife which resulted in a court appearance. The wife has denied her husband conjugal rights and prefers to share their marital bed with her 18-year-old son. Chesos!
The marriage of 20 years is now on the rocks. Tanaka Mukosora made the claims at the Harare Civil court in his quest for a protection order against his father Innocent Mukosora. Tanaka said his father was in the habit of going home drunk late at night where he would start beating him up. He said:
“YOUR WORSHIP, MY FATHER DOES NOT WANT ME TO PLAY WITH OTHER BOYS OF MY AGE AND DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO GO OUT. HE BEATS ME UP FOR SLEEPING IN HIS BEDROOM AND ALSO HARASSES ME IN FRONT OF MY SCHOOLMATES. MY FATHER ALSO BEATS MY MOTHER AND INSULTS HER USING VULGAR WORDS IN MY PRESENCE.”
Is this boy serious? He actually has the gall to justify sleeping on his parent’s bed! Let no man put asunder applies to all men and women!
His father Innocent was opposed and defended his right to physically abuse both boy and mother! He said:
“MY WIFE DENIES ME SEX AND THIS MAKES ME ANGRY AND THAT’S WHY I SOMETIMES BEAT HER. HE WAS SENT BY HIS MOTHER TO BRING ME TO COURT. SHE SHARES A BED WITH OUR 18-YEAR-OLD SON AND WHENEVER I COME BACK FROM WORK, I SEE OUR SON SLEEPING IN MY BEDROOM SO THAT IS WHY I SOMETIMES GET ANGRY.”
Magistrate Nyasha Marufu, who presided over the matter, granted the protection order in Tanaka’s favour. This case has no good guys. All of them are bad apples!
