Zimbabwean wife dragged to village court for failing to give husband best chicken pieces

A Zimbabwean man last week assaulted his wife and dragged her to the village court for not serving him the choice pieces of a chicken relish she had prepared. 24-year old Nomusa Sibanda of Nkayi got into trouble after she slaughtered a cockerel for their evening meal but kept the breast and leg potions for herself.

Under local customs the back, breast and leg potions of a chicken should be reserved for the man but Sibanda’s husband, Jabulani Ncube, 40, claimed he was only served with a gizzard, wings and one drumstick. Ncube said he was stunned the following evening when Sibanda served his sadza with dried green vegetables. He confronted Sibanda on what had happened to the rest of the chicken and assaulted her after she admitted consuming the choice potions.



Sibanda however, managed to bolt out of the house and spent the night at a neighbouring homestead. A seething Ncube dragged her to the village court the next day where the headman found Sibanda guilty of contravening traditional customs and fined her a chicken. Sibanda’s grandmother, Gogo MaDawu, was also summoned before the court where she was charged with dereliction of duty for failing to teach Sibanda “how to treat her husband and dish out meals”.

The grandmother was fined a cockerel which was slaughtered for the village committee. Ncube accused his wife of being “uncultured and disrespect­ful” and warned that he would seek divorce if Sibanda failed to respect the “offence”. But Sibanda was unrepentant and moaned: “How long shall I slaughter chick­ens and not taste the back portion?”