A Durban doctor has laid a charge of bigamy against her husband of 25 years.
The 49-year-old woman charged her businessman husband, 52, at KwaMashu police station.
The couple, who married in 1987, have two adult children.
The woman said that last July she had found out through friends that her husband had married a 26-year-old woman in Swaziland in a civil union.
At the time, she and her husband had been living together, but were not happy.
“He left home on the Thursday and got married at the weekend… he didn’t tell me… he had a white wedding and invited people, including some of our friends… until it happened, I did not suspect a thing,” she said.
The woman added that she still battled to understand why her husband had “created such a mess”.
Divorce had not been mentioned. “If he wants a divorce, he should apply for one,” she said.
The doctor said the purpose of her charging her husband was to prevent bigamy from becoming common.
“It is becoming a common experience that is ruining family lives.
“It is becoming common in Durban, like some sort of fashion,” she said.
Her husband had moved out of their home and she assumed that he was now living with his new wife in Durban.
Contacted for comment, the husband declined to say anything. The charge was still being investigated.
A bigamy case that made headlines recently was that of Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla, who was charged by his estranged wife, Tando Mabunu-Mandela, after he married KwaZulu-Natal woman Mbalenhle Makhathini in a traditional ceremony.
The traditional wedding was in contravention of a previous court order that blocked the union.
It also went against the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act which restricted men already married in a civil union from undergoing a traditional marriage with a second wife.
