Dramatic marriage finally comes to an end
The troubled marriage of Gomolemo Rankosha (45) and ex-wife Duduetsang (35) is officially over.
The divorce was granted by Lobatse High Court Judge Matlhogonolo Phuthego this week. What is now left is for court to make a ruling on how properties will be distributed between the two.
According to Rankosha, a teacher by profession, his 13-year-old marriage to Duduetsang, a nurse, ended because he caught her red-handed, cheating on him with another man.
The wife would later file for divorce in 2020 and they have been on separation ever since.
Rankosha has been battling depression, attending counselling sessions and trying to reconcile with his ex-wife for the sake of his children - aged 14 and eight - but his tears have failed to save the marriage. He has been crying of not being able to see his children because of a restraining order, yet he pays for their basic needs, including school fees.
The final straw that broke the camel’s back was when Rankosha realised early this year that his wife was pregnant with another man's child.
It was clear then, he says, that there was no turning back, his marriage was irretrievably broken.
His suspicions are that the father of the child is Onalethata Kesolofetse, a man who according to court documents, Rankosha tried unsuccessfully to sue for marriage wrecking. His case against the man was thrown out for lack of concrete evidence at Mmadinare Customary Court in April this year.
Rankosha, who expressed disappointment in the decision by the customary court that said he could not show any tangible proof of the marriage wrecking, says it is blatantly clear that Kesolofetse is guilty as evidenced by the fact that even to date, he and his now ex-wife are always together just as much as they have been seen together several times.
This is despite Kesolofetse also being a married man.
Rankosha claims to have at one point caught them and even listened to moans and groans of the two having sex, one of the issues he adds could not be accepted as evidence at the court in Mmadinare.
“I had investigated who she was secretly dating and followed them to a house. I listened through the window as they made love. I called and her phone rang from inside. I called the police and my wife ran off naked through the window,” he said.
He added that together with the police, they found her clothes and bank cards inside the house and he took them, including all of Duduetsang’s money and that is when she called and came out of hiding.
With the divorce now granted, Rankosha is hurt but believes he will soon recover and start life afresh.
'I am just thankful that I did not take the law into my own hands, the pain my ex-wife caused me was unbearable. Even during our separation days, I saw them many times driving a car I bought.
“I am not really fine right now but I will be. My mother has been my biggest support system and I thank her for that,' he said.
At present Rankosha is drowning in debts.
'When I married her, we agreed that I take a loan, we added to the debt when we bought a ploughing field in Palapye. The debt is over a million Pula and I hope the court will help settle the matter,' Rankosha said.
Duduetsang's phone rang unanswered this past Tuesday. However, when contacted by this publication earlier this year she had declined to comment, saying she was not interested in talking to the media about her marriage.