LUSAKA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- A 25-year-old man has divorced his wife after finding sexual messages she has been sharing with her boyfriend on WhatsApp on her mobile phone.

A 40-year-old man told a court in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, of how he had to hire an information technician to hack into his wife's phone to record all conversations she had with different men.

These are some of the stories you find in two of Zambia's daily newspapers, the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail in their Sunday editions.

The two newspapers have dedicated two pages on their Sunday editions to write stories from the local courts, which mostly deals with marriages, and stories on divorces are a daily occurrence in the editions.

This just goes to show a picture of how the institution of marriage has deteriorated in the southern African nation, sending people to ask what could have gone wrong.

Minister of Justice Given Lubinda said over 61,000 divorce cases were granted in local courts from the period 2016 to 2019 while over 1,000 divorce cases were granted in the high courts during the same period.

He said during a parliamentary session that the abuse of social media was one of the causes of divorces in the country and that people were finding it easier to get divorced in local courts than in any other court in the country.

A local organization, the Concerned Citizens for Justice and Human Rights has since expressed concerns at the increased levels of divorces in the country.

Friday Liteta, the organization's operations manager said the rise in divorce cases is a sign that couples were not being properly counseled before they enter into the institution of marriage.

The situation, he said, is one reason behind the increased number of street children in the country because divorces result in broken homes.

According to him, the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs should include a program on marriage counseling so that the country could see stable marriages.

"We are against divorces because of its negative consequences not only on families but society as a whole. It is one of the causes of street kids," he told local media.

Bishop John Mambo, one of the country's leading church fathers, said the rising divorce cases seen in the last four years are a reflection of decaying moral values in the country.

The clergyman said the situation calls for enhanced teachings to ensure stable marriages in the county, adding that having unstable families is reflected in unstable communities.

Nelson Banda, National Coordinator of the Zambia National Men's Network for Gender and Development, said the statistics is a source of concern when considering the population of the country.

According to him, united families are the bedrock of any nation and development hence the importance of putting in place measures to minimize the levels of divorces.

He has since called for a probe to establish reasons behind the many divorce cases in the country.

But for Elias Munshya, a lawyer, there is need to conduct a comparative analysis of the divorce cases over the years because the cases could be higher than reported.

According to him, some divorce cases go on without recourse to courts, according to a post on his Facebook page.

His views have been supported by Naomi Sampa, a 24-year-old student in Lusaka, who feels that the number could be higher as some cases do not go to court.

"This is sad though. The sad part about marriages is when you wake up and your partners don't want you," she said.

Lazarus Mbewe, another Lusaka resident believes that the high divorce cases are due to how marriages are instituted from the initial stage.

"The elders are not doing enough in sensitizing the couples on what marriage is all about and couples are rushing to marry without knowing each other," he said. Enditem

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