Man discovers daughter, 16, not his

A Harare man has told a Harare court how his wife kept a paternity secret for 16 years.

Jeffrey Simango told Harare Civil Court magistrate Tafadzwa Muvhami that his wife, Wadzanai Zvaipa, divulged that their 16-year-old daughter did not belong to him.

Simango said a misunderstanding arose after his wife helped the child to terminate her pregnancy.

He said he took care of the child over the past 16 years, in the mistaken belief that she was his child.

"We had misunderstandings pertaining to the issues of our child," Simango said.

"Our daughter was not feeling well and I asked her why she was sick. She told me that she had had an abortion.

"I took them (Zvaipa and the child) to the person who gave them the concoctions to terminate the pregnancy and he confirmed. I later took Wadzanai for counselling and that is when she told me that the child did not belong to me.

"I then left the house because I was pained that the child I have been keeping for 16 years was not mine. I divorced her but she is forcing me to love her."

Zvaipa refuted her husband's allegations saying she never told him that the child did not belong to him.

"I am disputing all what he has said. He has not given my aunt a token of divorce and I never told him that the child is not his," Zvaipa said.

Magistrate Muvhami ordered the couple to live peacefully.

He ordered Zvaipa to stop abusing her husband or threatening him in any way.