CHEATED MAN UNHAPPY IN-LAWS RETURNED LOBOLA

MSHINGISHINGINI – “She is still my wife.” This was a statement made by a man who caught his wife red handed allegedly committing adultery.

That’s not all – the woman later fell pregnant with another man’s child after she had been sent to her paternal home to be reprimanded for the earlier act.
When the man went to fetch the wife from his in-laws, instead of returning with her to their love nest, he was given back the lobola cows. Initially, the groom had paid 12 cows, inclusive of lugege and insulanyembeti.
Lugege is the cow slaughtered for the party while insulanye- mbeti is a cow specially dedicated to the mother of the bride. Despite the drama, the husband, *Mbongeni, said only death could separate him and his police officer  wife, *Nomsa.

dowry

At first, *Mbongeni was reluctant to speak to this publication, but after being told that the Swazi News team had seen people loading the lobola cows into a truck, he opened up.
The businessman, who is in the trucking industry, wondered how the reporter got wind of the story, but confirmed that he was aware of the matter.
Before elaborating, *Mbongeni made mention of that he was a media shy person, however, he briefly explained that according to culture, only death could separate married couples.
He further said that even the bible forbids divorce.

“I’m a religious person,” he disclosed without expanding on his Christian values and beliefs.
Reverting to Swazi law, Mbongeni said divorce was only allowed if the wife committed adultery.
In such an instance, he detailed that the woman would be sent packing (umbophela umtfwalo). 

He noted that they never sent her packing, but only took the wife to her parental home to be reprimanded. “When we went to fetch my wife from home, her parents offered to give back the lobola cows,” he said.
Asked if Nomsa would be sent packing now that the cows have been returned, Mbongeni explained that they were still going to meet as a family and decide about the next step.

in-laws
Elaborating on how the wife’s family  came up with the decision to give back the cattle, Mbongeni said it all started when they went to their in-laws to enquire about the woman’s behaviour.
“My wife’s father said we should not engage him. However, we reminded him about his advise that in the event their child misbehaved, she should not be assaulted or killed, but should be sent back home in one piece,” Mbongeni recounted.
In fact, Mbongeni said they had initially reported the matter to the royal kraal of their in-laws.

He mentioned that his father in-law then decided to take it up with Pigg’s Peak District Commissioner (Ndabazabantu). “It was during the meeting that the wife’s family  offered to return the cows. We gladly accepted them, who would not want cows?” he rhetorically asked.
When asked about the meaning of the cows being returned, Mbongeni said he was not sure.
However, the businessman insisted that he was still legally married to his wife because he never sent her back with her belongings.
An impeccable source close to the matter confirmed that they fetched the lobola cows on Tuesday.

He stated that Mbongeni paid lobola to Nomsa’s family in 2002, and the wife was caught in 2005.
After being ‘single’ for approximately four years, the source revealed that the businessman wedded another wife.

Also, the district commissioner, who identified himself only as Mamba, confirmed that they had engaged the families.
advised
“The wife’s family offered to return the cows to the groom’s family. This was after we had advised them to engage each other. We were told on Monday that the cows were ready. And to the best of our knowledge, they have concluded everything. I’m told all the parties are happy with this arrangement,” Mamba said.

He added that they were not expecting both parties to raise the matter again.
In 2013, His Majesty King Mswati III reminded the nation that there was no divorce in a marriage conducted under Swazi Law and Custom. Our sister publication, the Times quoted the monarch saying that there was no earthly forum that had the powers to declare a customary marriage null and void.
Only death, the King said, could bring a customary marriage to an end.

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