Patient Sibanda Court Reporter
A CHEATING woman will have to pay back about $900 to a man she once
dragged to court over child maintenance after a DNA test proved the baby
was not his.
Nokuthula Talitha Sibindi, 20, of Bulawayo’s Pumula South
suburb had dragged her ex-lover Bhekisipho Masuku, 28, to court last
year in September demanding maintenance for the now one-year-old child.
She had insisted Masuku was the only man she had ever slept with.
Magistrate Manasa Musiiwa on Tuesday announced the results to Sibindi and Masuku in court.
“An incompatibility with paternity has been found. Masuku is excluded with a degree of certainty,” he said.
Masuku, a police officer from Cowdray Park suburb was last year
ordered to pay $50 interim maintenance pending the outcome of DNA
paternity results.
The magistrate had ordered Sibindi and Masuku to go for a test with the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe.
Masuku had submitted an independent DNA report showing he was not the father but the court turned down the result.
The court last year ordered Masuku to pay DNA test expenses including transport cost, accommodation and food for Sibindi.
He complied with the court order and his costs amounted to $910
including monthly maintenance that he has been paying for seven months
At the maintenance office Sibindi insisted that Masuku was the father of her child.
“He’s the father of my child. I only had sex with him. These results aren’t correct,” she said.
According to media reports, the Harare Civil Court revealed that in
2012 up to 2014 an average of 70 percent of maintenance cases referred
for DNA paternity tests came back negative.
