A HEARTBROKEN common-law wife is pulling out all the stops to prevent the father of her two children from flying out to Canada with a woman he apparently married last week

A sobbing Nosisi Dlikilili said her common-law husband, Richard Zola Sotawu, had secretly married Tobi Chon Bi Lin, a former missionary at the Africa Theological College.

Bi Lin and Sotawu allegedly fell in love while singing in the same choir.

Dlikilili said she found out about the marriage when Zola's close friends contacted her. She and Sotawu had been dating since they were in Grade 9 years ago.

"Zola's friends told me they could not live with a clean conscience," she said.

She visited the Khayelitsha reverend who solemnised Sotawu's marriage to Bi Lin. After listening to her and seeing the children, he declared the new marriage null and void.

Dlikilili said what irked her most was that Zola sent his uncles to pay lobola to her family last month and they were preparing for tsiki (slaughtering of a sheep to welcome umakoti) rituals.

"My family is very upset because they warned me about him a long time ago but he told me he was a changed man and I trusted him," she said.

Sowetan could not reach Sotawu or Bi Lin on their phones. They are believed to be in Transkei, where they are said to be getting "legally" married.

Sotawu's uncle, Ntlane ka Funda, was visibly upset when we tracked him down. He said he felt let down.

"I was the chief negotiator for ilobola and now a thing like this happens. We all look like fools now," he said.

Funda said Sotawu's father from Centane, Eastern Cape, tasked him with approaching the Dlikilili family to negotiate ilobola.

Landlord Jack Ngxise said everybody was shocked by the latest developments.

"They were a cute couple, but now it looks like the man has vanished with another woman."

Dlikilili said she would do everything in her power to stop Sotawu and Bi Lin from jetting off to Canada.

"I found papers showing my husband's visa application had failed and I will make it worse," she fumed.