Pay me lobola before divorce

Sharon Mathala
OWING: Modise

• Estranged wife demands P 30 000 lobola debt

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) councillor for Babusi ward, Phuthego Modise is headed for a bitter divorce battle with his estranged wife, Ntsenya Modise who is demading Lobola owed to her.

37- year- old Modise has dragged her husband before the White City Customary Court asking the court to direct him to pay the lobola he owed for their marriage of 12 years.

- Advertisement -

According to Ntsenya, her husband had promised to pay up to P 30 00 for her lobola but has not yet settled that debt.

“ I was very much in love and pregnant at the time. We had met in December and I was pregnant three months later and so everything was happening really fast at the time. I was very young and he was my first real relationship, so I negotiated for him to owe lobola,” shared the Lesotho born woman.

But their marriage would later drown in misery as infidelity and abuse would later rock the union.

The couple’s marital woes and court drama dates back to as far as 2011 when the magistrate’s court ruled that the BDP councilor pay his wife a P 2, 200 maintenance fee every month as they separated.

“The plaintiff is to be maintained for as long as the marriage is still in subsistence, subject to a variation by the competent court. The plaintiff (Wife) to seek medical attention for her hair condition so as to reduce the monthly costs incurred as a result of buying wigs,” reads the 2011 court order granted against Modise.

Now as the couple heads for divorce the jilted wife is demanding the P30 000 lobola.

- Advertisement -

“I am not contesting the divorce, all I want is the lobola he is still owing. Our marriage will never work,” she told this publication outside court.

The case was adjourned after Deputy Court President Richard Kwapa asked to recuse himself and has since been referred to the Customary Court of Appeal to be allocated a new Chief.

Kgosi Kwapa further told The Voice that the councilor is opposing his wife’s application to pay the lobola debt.

Modise refused to comment on the matter as he answered the phone but hung up abruptly when he realised the call was from The Voice reporters.

The case continues

- Advertisement -
Leave a comment