Spiwe Sarakunze
Herald Reporter
A MAN from Harare has been granted a protection order against his wife, who has been abusing him for the past 16 years due to his alleged barrenness.
Mr Leonard Tamiwa and his wife, Thokozile Sibanda, appeared before the Harare Civil Court magistrate, Mr Ashton Dube.
Mr Tamiwa told the court that his wife had turned their once-peaceful home into a battleground where insults, mockery, and physical intimidation had become the norm.
“She calls me useless and compares me with other men, which hurts me the most,” Mr Tamiwa said.
He said the abuse began subtly a few years into their marriage but had worsened over time.
Sibanda, Mr Tamiwa said, allegedly started calling him barren and mocking his manhood, despite knowing that he had fathered three children with his late wife before marrying her.
“She insults me every day. She says I am not a real man, that I cannot satisfy her or give her a child,” he said.
“I have tried to talk to her, but she never listens. Instead, she threatens to throw me out of the house, which I built with my late wife.”
Mr Tamiwa said things reached breaking point when Sibanda threw his clothes and personal belongings out of their matrimonial home.
“She told me that I am useless and that I have no right to live in that house because I am not man enough,” he said.
Mr Tamiwa said the humiliation was not only confined to their home but was now public knowledge.
He said his alleged shortcomings as a man were now a matter of discussion amongst their neighbours.
Mr Tamiwa described his wife as a violent and controlling woman who constantly looked for ways to degrade him.
“I have lived in fear and shame. I cannot eat properly or sleep in peace. I have been a prisoner in my own house,” he said.
“She calls me names, shouts at me, and sometimes even pushes me around.”
The court heard that he has been a subject of violence and abuse not only from his wife but also from her relatives.
He also told the court that Sibanda does not want his children to benefit from the properties he purchased with his late wife.
Sibanda admitted assaulting her husband out of anger and frustration over his failure to satisfy her.
“I was angry because he could not satisfy me. He is not a man. I even believe he was bewitched because, at one point, I saw worms coming out of his manhood,” she said.
“From that day, I knew something was wrong with him. I lost all respect for him because he cannot perform like a normal man.”
Sibanda said she has been living like a widow for the past 16 years and that was fuelling her anger.
Mr Tamiwa dismissed Sibanda’s allegations as malicious fabrications meant to humiliate him further.
He said Sibanda had fabricated stories to justify her cruelty and to destroy his dignity.
“I am a healthy man, I had three children before I met her. I don’t know what she is talking about,” he said.
“She is just trying to embarrass me because I reported her to the police and brought her to court.”
Mr Dube advised both parties to go for counselling.
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