Ex-husband demands bogadi back

Cathrine Moemedi

“I paid P2,000 for damages but she already had 7 kids!”

A jilted man, whose wife divorced him following years of alleged abuse, appeared before the Customary Court of Appeal this Monday demanding his bogadi back.

Gonayang Molubi also requested that his ex-wife, Kemmonye Moluti be made to return the P2, 000 he had paid her family for enjoying conjugal rights before marriage.

The Maun man maintained he could hardly have ‘damaged’ Moluti as when he met her she already had seven children.

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“Please reconsider my case. The settlement was unfair on my part. I felt cheated!” maintained Molubi, whose marriage to Moluti fell apart amid allegations of abuse, culminating in the couple’s divorce last December.

Molubi complained that out of their seven goats, “I was only given three goats and she received four.”

He demanded to be re-paid the P4, 000 bride price and the P2, 000 damages (thagela) he was charged during marriage negotiations.

“I married her with seven children. I helped her raise them without the assistance of their fathers because she refused to report them for maintenance. Taking care of them cost me a lot!”

For her part, Moluti claimed their marriage was characterised by violence, with her husband and his son regularly beating both her and her children.

“The home was not peaceful. I once came home to find my step son dragging my child out of our house by the neck and telling her to get out of his father’s house,” she said.

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In the end, the court rejected Molobi’s appeal and instead instructed him to go back home and discuss the matter with elders. It further noted that since the case had not previously been brought before any court, it could not be heard at appeal level.

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