Danisa Masuku
An illegal miner from Jotsholo in Matabeleland North province was dragged to court by his wife after he stripped her naked and assaulted her several times with a sjambok, accusing her of squandering money set aside for school fees for their children.
Talent Ndlovu (37), a miner in Matopo, could not let it go when he discovered that his wife Sethule Ndebele (24) had wasted money for school fees for their children who are at primary school.
He is alleged to have violently grabbed his wife, stripped her naked, before he pummelled her several times with a sjambok all over the body.
Ndebele told the court that she suffered a fractured arm due to the assault and produced a medical report as evidence.
Ndlovu pleaded guilty to the assault charge before Lupane resident magistrate Ndumo Masuku.
“Your worship, I was angry when I assaulted her because she squandered money I sent her for school fees for our children. That angered me because I risked my life to get that money under the ground,” he said.
He added: “I don’t know when I will get the money because it’s not easy to get money in our mining activities. This is a setback for my children because they have to stay at home for some weeks as I will be looking for money.”
Sethule took to the stand and said: “We had no food for Christmas so I decided to buy food for our children, the remainder of the money I bought our children clothes for Christmas. When I explained to him he did not understand, instead he accused me and thrashed me for being wasteful. I suffered eyesight problems and fractured an arm. I have a medical report as an exhibit.”
Magistrate remanded Ndlovu out of custody to next week on Monday for sentencing.
