Woman reveals child's real father 18 years later

CHAKANAKA Village in Hurungwe sprawls several homesteads, consisting of large round grass-thatched huts with a characteristic main house, dotted around by several smaller huts. The spear grass used for thatching on most of the huts is now dark brown with age and from the soot of the fires lit inside the huts for cooking, warmth or light. Most of the huts have low hanging roofs, the eaves of which almost obscure doorways.

A stranger to the village would certainly be struck by the symmetrical arrangement of the huts, with the main corrugated iron-sheet roofed house presiding like a king among his subjects.

At the centre of the village is an open space, where children play house during the day but at nightfall, the story changes.

It becomes the yard for courtship between village boys and girls, some of whom sneak out of the huts, undetected by their parents and guardians.   

It is from here that Ruth Nyereyegona, then an 18-year-old eloped to Douglas Chakanaka and everyone in the village blessed the marriage.   

Hardly a year later in 1994, the couple was blessed with a bouncing baby girl and the village, true to the tradition, brought goodies to welcome the baby.    

Ever since she gave birth Ruth kept the true paternity of her child, a top secret whose revelation even to close relatives, she believed, could dismally crumble her marriage.

Just recently, the 36-year-old mother of three stunned Chief Dendera's village court with her disclosure on the true paternity of the girl, now in Form Four at a local secondary school.

Ruth took her case to the Chief's Court early this month where she claimed that as the mother of the teenager, now on the eve of completing her secondary education, she wanted her to be in the rightful custody of her biological father.

Ruth claims the girl's biological father is one Jottam Chibhoora, a Harare architect whom she met while he was working for a construction company putting up Magunje barracks during the early 1990s.

"The biological father of my first born child is not Douglas Chakanaka.

"I only eloped to Chakanaka after Chibhoora who used to work for a construction company then putting up Magunje Barracks ditched me. I was three-months pregnant when Chibhoora ran away from me.

"I then started going out with Chakanaka who happened to be an easy target since we stayed in the same village, although he is not the biological father of the girl.

"When I eloped to him he thought he was responsible for the pregnancy and went on to make all necessary preparation for the child including even paying lobola.

"We stayed together for nine years. During this time I had two more children with him, although the first one was still not his. After our marriage had collapsed, he still continued to have custody of the first child although she is not his," she narrated before the court.

Ruth said she resorted to the Chief's court after her estranged husband, Chakanaka refused to surrender the girl to her rightful father.

She told Chief Dendera that the biological father √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨" Chibhoora √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨" was also behind the move and had indicated that he was prepared to repay all the expenses met by Chakanaka over the past 17 years he had taken custody of the child.  

Ruth's brother, Godknows Mudhindo was not happy with the way his sister had taken Chakanaka for a ride fully knowing that the man was not the father of her first born child.

Although Mudhindo castigated his sister for her infidelity, he was comfortable with the surrendering of Ruth's child to her rightful father as long as she was saying the truth.

Mudhindo does not also mind the move as long as Chibhoora pays all the costs met by Chakanaka in the upbringing of the teenager over the last 17 years.

In his judgment after submissions by his assessors Chief Dendera reprimanded Ruth for allegedly conniving with her former lover, Chibhoora.

He castigated her for her greed since Chibhoora had promised to pay all that Chakanaka could demand as costs for the care of the teenager.

"We cannot tolerate such diabolic acts of connivance with your former lover so as to strip Chakanaka of his daughter because you have been promised large sums of money.

"We have discovered what is happening. Let's give the story a rest. Gomba harina mwana we cannot make use of money to rob what rightfully belongs to the owner of the child," said Chief Dendera.

After Chief Dendera's ruling Ruth tried in vain to seek advice on how she could be assisted to have her story reviewed. Although some people well versed with conventional law advised her to appeal to the magistrates' court to have her case re-examined, she said she could not pursue the case any further as it could be a burden on her part, financially.

Ruth's story comes at a time when Zimbabwe is grappling with statistics that about 70 percent of men were paying maintenance for children who were not theirs.

Meanwhile, Chakanaka's relatives have vowed to fight tooth-and-nail and never to let go of the girl. But some of Ruth's relatives are arguing that Chibhoora should be allowed to take custody of his child including changing the surname since the mother of the child was the only credible prophet to prove the paternity of the girl ahead of even any form of DNA tests.

"Some of these issues are taboo and can turn too tense when the child gets married.

"Spirits from the biological father will be fighting to have their child back into their family unit.

"Spirits can destroy whatever form of marriage in a bid to have the girl surrendered to their real relatives," said an elderly relative of Ruth.