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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A POLYGAMIST with two wives and 11 children wept in court after a magistrate ordered him to pay $45 for the maintenance of his seven-year-old daughter with his junior wife. Ms Virginia Ncube, of Bulawayo’s Nketa 9 suburb, yesterday dragged her husband, Mr Elvis Ngulube, to the Bulawayo Civil Court for failing to maintain their seven-year-old daughter.

Ms Ncube was demanding $130 monthly from her husband for the upkeep of their daughter.
“My husband is not maintaining our daughter. He last did that during the Zimbabwe dollar era and since then I have been struggling to put food on the table for myself and my daughter. Each time I approached him, he would give me flimsy excuses, which is why I had to resort to the courts,” said Ms Ncube.
Magistrate Mr Victor Mpofu awarded Mrs Ncube $45, while instructing Mr Ngulube to make the first payment at the end of this month.

Mr Ngulube tried to plead with the magistrate to reduce the amount to $10, arguing that he has a big family to look after but Mr Mpofu was unsympathetic.

Ngulube then started sobbing in what appeared to have been a well-calculated move to draw the sympathy of the magistrate.
“Forty-five dollars is too much for me, I can’t afford it considering that I earn a paltry $276 monthly, which is not even enough since I have 10 other children to look after from my senior wife,” he pleaded.

“I also pay rent of $100 and the only amount I can afford for the maintenance of my daughter is $10.”
Magistrate Mr Mpofu shot back: “You are saying you are not able to pay maintenance for your child, but you are able to make children?

“They are your children, you should look after  them. Why didn’t you do family planning if you knew that you would not be able to look after such a big family?”