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.