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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A 58-YEAR-OLD Mangwe woman has severed ties with her family to save her relationship with her son’s 28-year-old friend.
The two love birds, Sarah Nleya, who is a mother of six and Norman Mkandla of Lupane, have been in a relationship for the past five years.

Nleya, who was married to the late ZCC pastor, Lawrence Maphosa, has since banned her family from entering her homestead as they are against the relationship.

She became pregnant with Mkandla’s baby last year but suffered a miscarriage.

Nleya’s third child Unami Maphosa, 21, recently appeared in court for stabbing his mother and her lover while protesting their relationship.

Chronicle caught up with Sarah who confirmed her undying love for Mkandla.

On the stabbing, she said her son did not have the right to come into her room at night because what she does in her bedroom is none of his business

“I am deeply in love with Norman and I am not planning on ending this relationship. My relatives and children know about us but they just do not want to accept reality which is that we were meant for each other.

“My in-laws expected me to get married to my late husband’s brother but that will not happen. I will not entertain their objections and I do not expect anyone of them in my house,” said Nleya. My children should learn to treat Norman like their father.”

The woman’s brother-in-law, Michael Maphosa, said Nleya’s affair with Mkandla was a disgrace to their family.

He added that their efforts to encourage the woman to end her affair with the “boy” had been in vain.

“This relationship is a huge disgrace to the family because we are a respected family in society. Sarah’s husband was a pastor in the ZCC church and as such she is expected to lead by example. However, she is not doing this as she is dating a man who is 30 years younger than her. To make matters worse, this boy was her son’s best friend,” said Maphosa.

He added: “Now she wants nothing to do with us because we are against her relationship. She has cut all ties with some of her relatives who do not want to entertain her nonsense.

“To make matters worse she is now living with her young man in my brother’s house which is a disgrace to my late brother.”

Unami, who is in custody, last month stabbed his mother on the hand and ripped her lover’s stomach open leaving his intestines hanging out after he found them making love in his mother’s bedroom.

Maphosa arrived home in the middle of the night from work and found the two love birds having a nice time in his mother’s bedroom, looked for a knife in the kitchen and used it to stab the lovers.