Tells court marriage fell apart after husband accused her of having an affair with deputy prime minister Metsing

Tefo Tefo

Maseru Town Clerk ‘Mantai Phaila has filed for divorce telling  the High Court on Thursday that trouble in her marriage  started two years ago when her husband accused her of having a sexual relationship with Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing.

The Town Clerk told the court that her spirited efforts to resolve the issue with her husband, Sefiri Phaila, had failed hence her decision to end the marriage.

She described her husband’s claims that she was sleeping with the deputy prime minister as malicious fabrications.

Ms Phaila said the fact that she had not been intimate with her husband since October 2013 was ample evidence that her marriage to Mr Phaila had broken down irretrievably and she should be granted a divorce.

While her husband was busy accusing her of having sexual relations with Mr Metsing, Ms Phaila charged that it was him, an administration manager with Thaba-Tseka District Council,  who was having several affairs, one of them with a close family friend she says is married.

Ms Phaila told presiding judge, Justice ‘Maseshophe Hlajoane, that she had never had any serious problems in her marriage of 15 years until her husband phoned in October 2013, accusing her of having an affair with Mr Metsing.

“Since our marriage in 1998, we were happy; we would have minor problems that we would easily resolve just like any other couple.

“That was until October 2013 when I received a telephone call from Sefiri, telling me that he was going to his home in Thaba-Tseka because he had just been told that I was having an affair with Metsing,” Ms Phaila told the court.

Asked which Metsing she was referring to, the Town Clerk said: “The Deputy Prime Minister,” drawing gasps from the gallery.

She continued: “I asked him why he could not wait until I came home (in Katlehong) so that we could discuss the issue, but he said there was nothing to discuss.

“I called his mother to inform her about the call, and she was shocked. His mother then told me that she would talk to her son about the issue. He went to Thaba-Tseka anyway and came back home after two days.

“When he returned, I asked him who had told him such information and he said it was his friend by the name of Juma,” she said.

Ms Phaila told the court it became clear that their marriage was now in trouble.

“From that day, he started sleeping in our son’s bedroom, and he continued doing so for months,” she said.

Ms Phaila said her husband eventually returned to the main bedroom but they were no longer getting intimate.

In February this year, Ms Phaila said she  found “shocking” text messages on her husband’s cellphone, which finally convinced her that it was over between them.

“On 13 February this year, I went for a funeral in Ha-Raleqheka and I told him that I would return the following day. Indeed, I came back on 14 February between 4pm and 5pm; he was not there when I came home.

“When he later arrived, he asked me how the funeral had gone and I told him that everything had been fine. I went to bed, and by this time, we were sleeping on the same bed but without being intimate,” Ms Phaila said.

“At around 11pm to midnight, I was woken up by the noise of several message alerts on his cellphone. I had left him in the lounge, but  he was now in the bedroom and responding to the text messages.

“The texting continued until around 1am.”

Ms Phailsa said she became suspicious and decided to check her husband’s phone the following morning.

“When he went to take a bath in the morning, I took his phone and perused his text messages. There was nothing in the SMS inbox.

“But when I checked his whatsapp section, I realised he had been talking to three women that night almost simultaneously.

“One of the women was ‘Marethabile Mosala and her phone number was saved under the name Coblas. Coblas is her husband’s nickname.

“The second one was saved as Itu Standard Bank and the third one was saved as Beauty.

“I knew ‘Marethabile as a family friend who my husband had introduced as a former schoolmate.

“The messages I found on the phone that day were romantic and vulgar and I cannot say them in an open court.” She said those text messages became the proverbial final straw that broke the camel’s back.

Ms Phaila told the court she had not had sex with her husband since that acrimonious call of October 2013.

“Since 2013, there has never been any intimacy between me and the defendant and there are no prospects for reconciliation. I want out of this marriage; I want the defendant out of my life,” she said.

Mr Phaila is yet to address the court on the matter, which the judge postponed to 28 April 2016.

However, his lawyer, Advocate Christopher Lephuthing on Friday told the Sunday Express that his client would argue to get divorce on grounds of infidelity, suggesting that Mr Phaila would maintain his line that his wife had an affair.  Advocate  Lephuthing would not elaborate further.