Dr Believe
Guta, a litigation specialist, submitted the petition to the Speaker of
Parliament on 8 July.
In it, he calls
for changes to Section 23 of the Maintenance Act [Chapter 5:09], which
currently allows for the prosecution and imprisonment of individuals who fail
to meet maintenance obligations, regardless of whether paternity has been
legally or scientifically confirmed.
Dr Guta wants
the courts to require paternity confirmation, via voluntary acknowledgment,
court declaration, or DNA testing, before initiating any criminal proceedings
against someone presumed to be a father.
The petition
cites multiple cases in which men were jailed for defaulting on maintenance
orders, only for subsequent DNA tests to prove they were not the biological
fathers.
“Numerous men
in Zimbabwe have been imprisoned… where paternity was either in dispute or
subsequently disproved by DNA testing,” the petition reads.
Dr Guta argues
that affected individuals have suffered “irreparable harm,” including loss of
liberty, reputational damage, psychological trauma, and unjust criminal
records.
He also cites
Section 49(1)(a) of the Constitution, which protects the right to personal
liberty, warning that the current law risks violating that right in the absence
of proper legal safeguards.
The petition
proposes a new subsection to Section 23 of the Maintenance Act:
“No proceedings
under this section shall be instituted unless the paternity of the child
concerned has been established by voluntary acknowledgment, a court
declaration, or a DNA test conducted in accordance with the law, where
paternity has not previously been admitted or is disputed.”
Dr Guta also
recommends the establishment of a statutory review mechanism to reassess past
cases where individuals may have been wrongfully imprisoned or penalised under
disputed paternity claims. CITE
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