By Gibson Mhaka
Former Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) boss’ marital problems worsened when his enraged wife made stunning disclosures in court that her husband was fired from work after he was allegedly caught watching pornography.
Patrice Sefelepelo Selamolela’s alleged love for pornography was revealed by his wife Thokozile Selamolela at the Bulawayo Civil Court where she was suing him for verbal and sexual abuse.
Thokozile claimed that her husband started abusing her after she confronted him over infidelity, which she discovered after she stumbled upon pictures and videos of his love child which were in his cellphone.
“I am legally married to Patrice Sefelepelo for 22 years now and for the past three years he has been very abusive to me. He became abusive after I discovered that he has a girlfriend and a child.
“I discovered the affair sometime in 2010 when he got sick. What happened is that while he was at the hospital he fell into a comma after he was diagnosed with meningitis.
When I took his phone for safekeeping, I was shocked when I discovered pictures and videos of his love child with facial looks like my child.
“After he got better I confronted him but he was not giving satisfactory reasons. That is when I realised that his behaviour had completely changed,” lamented Thokozile.
She further told the court that her husband turned into a “beast” after she assisted him to get a job at her uncle’s company following his dismal at Zimra in 2011.
“In 2011 my husband was dismissed from work and when I enquired why he was dismissed he gave me the papers that explained that he had been watching pornographic material. It surprised me but I stood by him for the four years he was not working.
“He however, turned into an animal after he got a job as an accountant at my uncle’s company Revival Motors. Despite the fact that I assisted him to get the job he would be insulting me in front of our child and would tell him that I am not educated”.
She further said her husband was also sexually exploiting her saying he paid $5 000 lobola for her adding that they were now sleeping in separate bedrooms.
In a terse response, Patrice disputed his wife’s accusations saying she was aggrieved about his love child.
“There are truths and untruths about what she said. She is aggrieved about the (love) child and that I understand it’s painful. I deny that I force her to have sexual intercourse with me. Infact she is the one who is denying me my conjugal rights,” he said.
In her judgment presiding magistrate Sithembile Ncube however, granted an interim order which ordered both parties to keep peace between each other before she referred them for counselling. B Metro
