By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA
FORMER Mbabala Member of Parliament (MP) Ephraim Belemu has asked the Lusaka High Court to dissolve his marriage to Sylvia Mushipe as it has broken down irretrievably.
But the wife has applied that the Lusaka High Court halts divorce proceedings pending hearing and determination of her application for Wilful neglect, saying that Mr Belemu, has financially neglected the family since he moved out of the matrimonial home in 2012, just after been elected Mbabala MP.
According to a divorce petition filed in the Lusaka High Court, Mr Belemu said he and his wife, an accountant, married on May 16, 1998 at the Registrar of Marriages in Lusaka.
He said they have four children between them.
The petitioner said he and his wife have lived apart for a continuous period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.
Mr Belemu stated that they been sleeping in separate bedrooms since 2013 after a mutual agreement and the wife subsequently left the matrimonial home.
However, Ms Mushipe who had filed an application for willful neglect on December 21,2021 and obtained an order of injunction stated that the court stays the divorce proceedings.
She stated that despite having been granted an interim injunction, Mr Belemu has continued to dispose of property , among them, the Land cruiser BAE 9746 which he advertised on social media.
She adds that the husband has also sold property no. L/27362/M, in Silverest, Lusaka to Isaac Chipampe and Mercy Chipampe.
Ms Mushipe said the petitioner had hardly been providing for the children.
“ I have four school going children who urgently need maintenance and support which the petitioner has hardly been providing for, leaving everything to me since he moved out of the matrimonial home in 2012 almost immediately upon been elected as MP for Mbabala constituency. He has been in and out until finally he moved out altogether,” she said.
She said that since she filed the application for Wilful neglect, Mr Belemu has provided for two of the children although she still has to meet their other needs.
Daily Nation Zambia