A 32 year old man in Harare is alleged to have dumped family with nothing but a packet of salt as he embarked on a spending spree in South Africa.
It is said that the man, whose name has been protected for privacy ,went to South Africa for the past six years after he won a state lottery prize money worth thousands of dollars leaving behind his pregnant wife and six children with no food but a packet of salt.
Reliable sources close to this man told this writer that, the man was reportedly spending money on commercial sex workers at the expense of his family. ” We are receiving reports from his friends that he is having good time with commercial sex workers in Johannesburg where he is living”, said the wife.”
“Since he left me with the children last month, I have never received any phone call or message from him, now I am stranded and have nothing to feed the children”, she added.
Neighbours who spoke to this publication expressed concern on the matter.Rudo Choko said the couple had a misunderstanding over the pregnancy, which he refused to take care of, alleging that his wife has an extra marital affair with a man only identified as Big Charlie.”They used to quarrel over the pregnancy, I think he decided to leave for South Africa because of this issue to make matters worse,all their seven children do not have birth certificates.This is so because the father does not have a national identity card”.narrated Choko
In an interview with this writer,the wife revealed that during the time when the father was in Zimbabwe, he was reluctant to solve this issue of birth certificates until he went to South Africa. Efforts to contact the father was fruitless as he was insisting to come back and rectify the issue but to no avail.However, life has become miserable for the wife who is struggling to survive with her children.
She is finding it difficult to put food on the table had it not that she is getting donations from some Good Samaritan, she would have died of hunger .
Meanwhile, a women’s organisation has called upon men to respect and love their wives despite having differences.The organisation said women bore the brunt of looking after the children in such circumstances, which sometimes may lead to untold suffering of innocent children.
By Lovejoy Shazharume