Wife’s relationship with twin’s husband ends marriage
‘Happily ever after’ is officially over for a Molepolole couple after five unhappy years together.
Finalising their divorce at the customary court last week, Segomotso Kgwakgwa revealed the main stumbling block in their marriage was his wife’s close relationship with her twin sister’s husband!
The 46-year-old revealed he tied the knot to Boitshwarelo Galeatle, 42, on 1st February 2020, less than three years after they met, paying ‘bogadi’ of eight cows to her family.
However, he admitted their marriage had been on the rocks for quite some time, with his wife leaving their matrimonial home in 2021 to move in with her twin sister in Gaborone.
In court, Kgwakgwa said the union initially fell apart because of Galeatle’s wayward behaviour, adding she constantly undermined him and treated him with disrespect and contempt.
Despite asking her parents to intervene, the hurt husband said this did not help and nothing changed.
“She wanted to control herself, most of the time going to places we didn’t agree. There was a time I went to inform her parents about our misunderstandings and they called her. She promised to stop but it never got better; she even told me that if I feel tired about her, I should return her to her parents’ place.”
Adding to his misery, Kgwakgwa revealed he was extremely uneasy at his wife’s special bond with her sibling’s husband.
Recalling a particular incident that left him especially upset, Kgwakgwa said Galeatle left home one evening to plait her hair at her sister’s.
“She would always visit her twin, Keamogetse Petso, but the twin never came to visit us. When I pointed that out, we rowed and she left in a huff. Later that day, the twin’s husband, Mokwadi Benet Petso called to inform me Galeatle did not have transport to return and that her cellphone was off.”
Voicing his grievances, and causing murmurs of discontent in the packed court, Kgwakgwa added, “What troubled me mostly was she had a secret with her twin’s husband. She told me that I should not know what they communicate about whenever she talked with him. She would even enter his bedroom without knocking, though her twin wasn’t around, with only the husband inside the bedroom.”
Although he never said it in court, speaking to The Voice afterwards, the broken man admitted he suspected his wife was cheating on him.
“Petso was always seen in the middle of the twins whenever they are together; he even told the twins’ cousin that both of them sleep with him,” claimed Kgwakgwa, adding when he confronted Petso about this, the other man just laughed and said he had been friends with Galeatle for 18 years and had no intention of ending the relationship.
Given the chance to address court, Galeatle did not contest her husband’s cries for divorce; indeed she did not say much at all.
“We had three meetings with my in-laws trying to question my husband why he wanted to divorce and he didn’t say the reasons. He only told them that they should return me beautiful as I look, he did not want any issue of violence,” revealed Galeatle, whose relatives, including her twin, turned up in large numbers, dressed in traditional attire with white shawls as if attending a marriage celebration.
Presiding over the matter, Molepolole Customary Court, Kgosi Patricia Sechele, applauded Kgwakgwa for not allowing his frustrations to spill over into physical violence, especially in an era where Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is widespread.
The Chief noted divorce was probably the best solution for all involved.
It brings a sad, somewhat inevitable end to the couple’s long-dead marriage; as is tradition, Galeatle’s in-laws will now return her to her parents.
