DPM’S OFFICE ORDERS DNA TEST FOR 4 MEN

LAMGABHI ETIYENI – A DNA is a scientific way to determine paternity or in this case to confirm the biological father of the child.

After a married woman from LaMgabhi Etiyeni had claimed maintenance from four men, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ordered four men to take the scientific route to determine the father of a seven-year old child.
This happened after they had reported the woman to the DPM’s Office after allegations that she ‘played’ all four different men into believing that they fathered her child. Three of the men are also married.

Investigations by Eswatini News revealed that one of these men, besides forking out maintenance money before and after the child was born in 2017 until now that she was in Grade III (Standard One), lived with the child for seven years. He thought he was the father. The man who lived with the child saw a Facebook post of the woman in which she published the photos of her child and another man.*Meshack then asked *James why he was pictured with his daughter. James reportedly responded that he thought he was also the child’s father.

Threatening

It must be said that James is married to the woman (*Phephile). Meshack then confronted Phephile, whom he regarded as his baby mama. He suggesterd for a DNA test, which Phephile rejected, threatening to kill herself by drinking poison together with the child. This led to him deciding against the DNA paternity test to protect the child, in particular. After sometime, he thought he was better off knowing the truth.

It has been learnt that Meshack and James live in the same area. After hearing the news of the paternity controversy, the family of another man of the same area (LaMgabhi Etiyeni) emerged and offered to tell a story. Meshack is related to the family. Family members did not talk about James, but their own relative, *Musa who is known to have fathered the child. The fourth man, a police officer, was informed of the matter and he immediately took action after hearing that a DNA was being conducted to determine who the father of the child, he knew to be his, is. The fourth man is *Joseph.

Aggrieved

The test was indeed conducted on the four men after the ‘real father’ (Joseph) who is a police officer stationed at the Matsapha Police College, was also called in to join the aggrieved three in the DNA testing process. It has been established that four men were called to the DPM’s Office earlier this week where the results were read out to them, revealing that the married police officer was the biological father.  

Meshack, who happens to be a soldier nurse, speaking to the Eswatini News, said, by exposing the woman, his aim was to correct government on the issues of GBV. “My aim of exposing this story is the issue of laws passed by this country. These laws are passed without considering the pros and cons such that when you analyse the law as a citizen, it does not balance,” he said.

Adding, Meshack argued that some of the laws passed appeared to favour others more, making an example of the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Act. He said this legislation was designed in such a way that males always appeared as the culprits in domestic violence matters. “The GBV law does not consider the contributing factors that lead to domestic violence. This leads to the breaking of the GBV law and some die while others do not,” he said.

Narrating his issue, the soldier who is a nurse said he was made to maintain a child by the woman in question for the past seven years, only to find that he was performing the father duties with four other men.

Serious

“I was forced to bring the child to stay with me, which gave me the opportunity and time to have a serious look at her. After thorough assessment, something just did not look right with this child because she did not look like the other children in my home.” Engulfed by this uncertainty over the child, he claimed to have immediately called the mother, where he poured out his heart about how he felt about the child.

“I told the mother that the child did not look like the other children here at my home, but I explained that this was not meant to accuse her of any malice. I only requested that we go for a DNA test. This unfortunately did not go down well with the mother.” The law enforcer claimed to have communicated through WhatsApp Messenger with the mother’s child, where she allegedly made threats to him after requesting for the DNA tests.

“She told me that I was making fun of her child and threatened to buy Masta 900 to end the child’s life along with hers. I had to go down to Lobamba Police Station and report. That was during schools first term last year.”
Adding, he said after reporting the threats to the police, he was advised against returning the child to her mother.

Tests

“The police told me that this issue could only be sorted out by conducting DNA tests. I heeded to the advice and returned home with the child. That was during the first term and when she called that she wanted the child back, I told her that we should meet at the police station. She continued to harass me and said whatever she wanted.”
Meshack claimed to have cooled down during the second term and allowed the child back to her mother. He said the mother took the child and brought her back after some days.

“Then one day, while I was going through social media on Facebook, I saw her account and followed it. I then went straight to her photos and discovered pictures that told me that during the course of the time when the child was not with me, she had taken her to the other father at an area, which I know myself. So, when she asked for the child, they went straight to the other father’s place to spend time together.”

The health worker said the ‘second father’ was actually married to the child’s mother as he had allegedly performed the customary kuteka ceremony on her. “I should state that we were in a relationship before she was takaed by the second man and according to her, I was still able to impregnate her when she was already married to another man. I then searched for Facebook friends and came across the man she had married and followed him also.”

To his astonishment, the soldier-nurse (Meshack) claimed to have discovered the same pictures of the child on the alleged woman’s husband’s Facebook timeline, including the inside of the house where the family apparently took the pictures.

Understand

“These were pictures of the child with her mother’s husband,” he said.  “I then called the man because I know him. I introduced myself to him and fortunately, he remembered me.” He said he then asked him about the whereabouts of his child with her mother.  He said he told him that he was made to understand that Phephile was taking the child to her mother in Phongola, South Africa. At that time, Meshack said the woman had returned the child to him.

He further claimed to have enquired from the man how often he was able to see the child. Meshack said he told him that the mother was complaining about lack of clothes for the child. “The man narrated to me that he told the child’s mother that he would not buy the clothes without the presence of the child. I then asked him if he had the birth certificate of the child and he responded to the negative. However, he said the mother told him that she had the birth certificate, which only had her particulars, while the father’s side was blank,” he said.

Meshack said it was at this point that he broke the news to the husband that he (soldier) was actually the father of the child. “I told him that the child was staying with me and was attending school. I then suggested to him that we come up with a plan to sort out the child’s issue,” Meshack, the soldier-nurse said. “I knew that she was going to call me during the third term and request the child. So, our plan with the other father was that when she did that, I would alert him so that we meet where she was going to direct me and then proceed to the police station.”

Release child

Indeed, he alleged that the child’s mother called him as planned. This happened when schools closed for December holidays last year. She asked him to release the child. “I agreed to release the child and she told me that she was now taking the child away from me for good,” Meshack said.

“That was through a message and I did not respond to it. On the agreed day of releasing the child to her, the other father contacted me to advise that he was already waiting for me at the Lobamba Police Station.” He added: “I took the child with me to her mother before proceeding to the police station because I did not want her to suspect foul play. I actually took the other children with me as well.” On arrival at the police station, he said they were directed to a certain department, where he explained the whole story to the officer-in-charge.

“I informed the police officer that we spoke with the other father about the same issue, to which they then demanded that he (other father) be called in before the child’s mother could say anything. He was called in and the matter was discussed. This is where the recommendation of DNA test came up again,” he explained to Eswatini News. The soldier-nurse also said he informed the officer that he was once approached by a family at his community about the issue of the child.

“I informed the officer that this family told me that they heard I was supporting a child, who was also supported by them (family) as they were also made to believe that the child belonged to them. That is the third father,” he narrated.

Investigate

“I also indicated to the officer that upon being approached by the said family, I took it upon myself to investigate further, but my elders advised me against releasing the child without evidence that he was not mine, so I had to continue supporting her.” Meshack lamented that he supported the child from the time Phephile was pregnant until she was born at Mbabane Government Hospital.

“So, this means the child had three fathers at that point, which was me, the second father and the third one from a certain family in my community,” he said. “I made it clear to the police officer that my main concern was who was going to leave with the child after the meeting at the station. The police officer indicated that the issue was beyond their jurisdiction as it demanded the involvement of a social worker.”

When the social workers were called by the police officers, he said it was reported that they were attending an end-of-year party in December last year. “The officers then arranged that we meet a social worker based in Mbabane and a Magongo police officer was engaged. Magongo tried to attend to the matter and asked the mother about her pin number, which she admitted reflected her husband,” he said.

“Magongo then inquired from the woman why the baby’s hospital card reflected me as the father. Her response was that she was asked by the nurse who the father of the child was and she gave her my name.” The soldier-nurse said the social worker wanted to find out why the nurses did not use the mother’s pin number which must translate to the child’s birth certificate details. “The woman’s pin number also stated that the next of kin of the child was her husband,” he said.

Welfare

“However, I told Magongo that such had been discussed with the police officers and what had brought us to him was to decide who was going to leave with the child on that day of the meeting. Magongo then called another social worker to intervene on the matter. We were then called by a Mkhonta woman from social welfare assigned to handle our case.”

The soldier said they were instructed to attend a meeting with the social worker in Mbabane where again, all the parties were present. He said the suggestion of a DNA test again came up during that meeting. “It was at that point that I told the social worker that I was no longer prepared to do the DNA test because I asked for it in time. I then made it clear that if the DNA test was to be done, we would have to share the costs, as I was only prepared to pay half.”

He said the social worker, after hearing all the submissions, reached a conclusion that the woman’s husband was not in anyway linked to the child even though his family members allegedly had seen some similarities. “The social worker made it clear that there was no evidence linking the husband to the child. The social worker then asked the woman if she was ready to take custody of the child after making threats of making him (child) drink Masta 900.

The social worker then made it known to the woman that the child was being left in my custody and her reaction was storming out of the office.” The army nurse said when the woman stormed out of the social worker’s office, they feared that she would rush to the car where the child was left to do harm, hence they hastily followed her after being made to sign some documents.

“We signed a book, which was blank and we rushed to the car where we found her with the child. When I reached home, I became worried that I had signed for something I had not read because the officer was yet to write the notes. This was on a Friday and I wasted no time and returned to the social worker’s offices the following Monday to double-check the notes.” He added that he had no problem with the notes by the social worker except for the part where it is stated that the minor was given to his custody pending DNA results.

Demanded

“My concern was that the DNA test could happen even after 20 years, hence I demanded that there must be a time frame, because I was starting to have some inferiority against the child. Seeing that the Social Welfare Department was not assisting me, I then made an appointment to see the DPM.” The soldier said he was welcomed at the DPM’s Office, where he was directed to the Principal Secretary (PS) Melusi Masuku to state his case.

“PS then called the social welfare officers to a meeting and at that time, I had discovered that there was a fourth father involved and he was a police officer. By mere looking, you could tell that the police officer was the biological father of the child. I was asked to leave contacts of the other two fathers and they promised to call us all to a meeting.”

He said the PS indicated that the only way out was the DNA test, saying that in the meantime, he also mandated his family to approach the family of the child’s mother on the issue. “After a few days, I received a call from the Social Welfare Department informing me that the family of the child’s mother wanted to meet on the issue, but I made it clear that I was not prepared to come there on that day,” he said.

He added: “Some hours later, I got another call from the same social welfare offices informing me that a brother of the woman (child’s mother) was offering to pay the costs of the DNA test.” The DNA allegedly cost over E4 000.
He said he was asked to come and take samples, to which he agreed. When the day for the testing came, he said they went to Lancet Laboratory, where their blood samples were taken.

“When the results came back, they showed that I was not the father of the child. Then tell me, if I had acted on emotions after getting these results, what would have stopped me from inflicting violence on that woman. She is liable to a certain sentence because there is no way I could get compensation for all the money I have spent maintaining this child.”

The soldier-nurse said he was not even considering the option of instituting civil case against the woman because she was unemployed. A police officer identified as Ndlangamandla, based at the Lobamba Police Station in the Domestic Violence Department, referred inquiries to the Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni.    

Meanwhile, below is on of the messages allegedly sent to the soldier by the mother of the child after he had demanded DNA paternity test: “Lokutangisita nje angiyotsenga Masta 900 ngivele ngife once naloyo mntfwana kutophela umsindvo gci. Sengidziniwe ngulokukhuluma lokungapheli mine ncono ngife mine naloyo mntfwana kutophela lokukhuluma.”

The soldier alleged that he never responded to the messages from the woman. Nonhlanhla Dlamini, the Executive Director of Swatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), said the man who had lived with the child and reported the issue to the Social Welfare Departmentneeded counselling. She advised him and the child to come to SWAGAA for this very crucial session. She also invited the others to also come for the same exercise. She described the woman’s act as criminal.

Assistant Superintendent Mnguni confirmed that the matter was reported to the Lobamba Police Station before it was referred to the Social Welfare Department. * Not real names to protect minor from victimisation.

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