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Women abusing the Maintenance Act to claim money for the purported upkeep of their children from men who are not the biological fathers of the minors in question should face stiff penalties. First and foremost they are bringing emotional trauma to the children that they are using in their games. Do these women feel any love and pity for what their children go through when all the lies are exposed?
In yesterday’s edition of The Herald, we carried a story in which the Harare Magistrates’ Civil Court has seen 70 percent of men who queried the paternity of children that they were paying maintenance for turning out not to be the biological fathers of the minors.
Taken in the context whereby 96 men applied for paternity tests and nearly 50 abandoned their challenges because of the high costs, this trend is certainly disturbing.
If each of the 50 men who appear in the particular court daily and the countless others who appear in different ones across Zimbabwe all insisted on paternity tests and could afford them, what would the picture look like? And we are not even talking about those who settle matters outside the courts.
It appears not to be an accident that men of high means are the targets of these women. This shows that some women are deliberately subverting the law for material gain using children as pawns.
Such con artists are making the situation difficult for honest women who genuinely need the support of the law to force irresponsible fathers to play their role in raising the children.
Currently, the law compels men to pay maintenance until they prove that they are not the biological fathers. Refusal to pay maintenance is a criminal offence.
On the other hand, the women accusing the wrong men are only required to pay back the money they would have received in the interim and face no criminal charges.
But they would have broken the law and wasted the time and effort of the legal operatives who will have worked on the cases. They overburden the justice delivery system, compromising it for genuine applicants.
We would like to urge all citizens to take cognisance of the fact that the purpose of the Maintenance Act is to protect children from neglect by parents. It is undeniable that many men often have to be coerced into taking responsibility for their offspring, especially those children born out of wedlock.
But this should not be used as a way of getting easy money, or “fixing” errant lovers.
In no way are we implying any criticism of the Maintenance Act. The law is very necessary as it ensures that children do not suffer for the irresponsible behaviour of their sires. It is the abuse of the law that we abhor.
Furthermore, the DNA tests to determine paternity cost between US$470 and US$520 which is paid to a South African company. This is a waste of our country’s resources which could be put to better use.
Is it not possible for litigants to use the local service provider who was contracted by the state for DNA profiling of the Chisumbanje disaster victims?
On the other hand we believe that the men who are caught in the trap should also bear part of the blame for the whole mess. In some of these cases the men’s own irresponsible sexual behaviour leaves them wide open to such scams.
Many of them are obviously indulging in unprotected sex without considering the very possible occurrence of the conception of a human being who will need the support of both parents, not just the mother.
Equally worrisome is the implied multiple concurrent sexual partnerships that are going on as it is apparent that one woman is having unprotected sex with at least two men at the same time.
At a time when the country is battling the high cost of HIV treatment and prevention, this shows a total disregard for all lessons that we should have learnt about the spread and prevention of HIV.
Online Reporter