By SARAH TEMBO-
A 62-year-old woman of Lusaka’s Matero Township has been dragged to court for defamation of character after she alleged that her neighbour was HIV positive and could not produce a child.
Mwansa Mwansa 34, told the court that his neighbour Mary Sitali had also been going round telling people that the child he had with his wife was not his.
This was in a case where Mwansa sued Sitali for defamation following the allegations.
Facts before that court were that the two were neighbours but on March 20, they had a bitter exchange of words after Sitali’s chickens strayed into Mwansa’s yard.
In the arguments, Sitali also accused Mwansa’s wife of being a prostitute, claiming that the child they had together belonged to another man.
Sitali allegedly threatened that if she would be arrested or charged for defamation, Mwansa together with his family would die.
“This woman is making me scared, right now my wife is very sick and I am not even sure of what she is suffering from,” he said.
But in her defence, Sitali told the court that she was not a witch and therefore could not kill a human being.
She narrated that differences between her and the plaintiff started after the chicken her daughter was keeping went into Mwansa’s yard last year.
Sitali said when the chickens went in Mwansa’s yard, his wife used to insult her claiming that they used to make her yard dirty.
She added that she had tried to reconcile with him and his wife but both had refused calling her a witch who wanted to kill his family.
“I have tried by all means to keep our chickens away from their yard by putting a fence but it seems that they just don’t want to reconcile with me,” she said.
Local Court Magistrate Lewis Mumba sitting with Petronalla Kalyelye ordered the two to get back home and reconcile.
The court said it was not good for neighbours to be holding grudges against one another because in our African society, they are supposed to be relatives.