MUTINTA MULAYE writes
A local court in Lusaka has thrown out the case in which a woman was demanding compensation from her friend she claimed accused her of having an affair with her boyfriend saying it was merely a petty misunderstanding. Senior Boma Local Court magistrate Freda Mugala ruled that the case between Martha Tembo, 29, a businesswoman of garden Compound, and her friend Pamela Chipoya, 23, could not suffice as it more about them having grudges against one another than defamation. Ms Tembo had sued her friend Pamela accusing her of having a sexual relationship with her boyfriend while Ms Chipoya, on the other hand, accused her friend of making the allegation in order to create problems in her marriage. “She wrote a message to my husband telling him to warn me to stay away from her boyfriend,” Ms Tembo said. She said that Ms Chipoya also lied to her husband that Ms Tembo and her boyfriend used to take her out to drink beer. “She decided to come up with her own conclusion and hated me because she found me standing with her boyfriend at another rime,” stated Ms Tembo. But Ms Chipoya denied ever accusing Ms Tembo of having a relationship with her boyfriend saying all she did was to send a message to her husband telling him to advise her against giving false information to her boyfriend. “My boyfriend pays rentals for my house but because of the grudge that she has against me, Ms Tembo went to lie to him that I bring men to the house when he is not around,” Ms Chipoya said. She said she was sure Ms Tembo told lies to her boyfriend about her because she once found her talking to him in a suspicious manner around 21:45.
The court ruled it was wrong for Ms Chipoya to involve Ms Tembo’s husband in an issue which was between the two of them.
