Man ropes in Health Ministry to prove last born’s paternity

By Bahle Gama

Four years into his marriage, with two children, a man suspects that the last-born child is not his and has further roped in the Ministry of Health for evidence.

As a means to get the truth, Ntokozo Tsela of Mahwalala has issued an application against the Ministry of Health, the Principal Secretary, the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMDs), and the Attorney General to assist with information about the child his wife gave birth to in December 2022, whose name and gender he does not know.

In his founding affidavit, Tsela states that on July 27, 2013, he traditionally married Bongiwe Sonto Tsela nee Ndwandwe at KaKhamsile. The marriage certificate was procured by Tsela and his wife when they began experiencing marital problems which were solely caused by the wife’s alleged philandering and adulterous escapades with known and unknown people.

The marital problems led to the couple living apart to date as she currently resides in Fonteyn. Two of their children are born out of marital union aged seven and 10 respectively.

“When we experienced marital problems, my wife left our marital home to reside at Fonteyn whilst she was pregnant and I as the husband am suspicious that her moving out was due to the fact that the child is not mine and she is trying to conceal the paternity of the child,” he states.

What makes Tsela more suspicious is that when Bongiwe left their marital home on August 2022, she left with their two minor children whom he has also not seen to date even though he believes he has every right to have access and visitation as their father.

He suspects that the third child born on December 20, 2022, is not his as he is advised that between the duration she gave birth and January 2023, she concealed the information from Tsela as her husband.

“To such an extent that at a certain point, she claimed that the child is a boy, yet I am reliably advised that the child is a girl. As it stands, I don’t know the sex of the child hence the present application,” he stated.

Tsela says he also does not know the child’s name as he has been deprived of the right of knowing the same as the husband, let alone naming the child per the dictates of the Swazi Law and Custom.

The application seeks to order the Ministry of Health through its Senior Medical Officer (SMO) to transmit to Tsela or his lawyers the child’s Health immunisation card, a copy of the Registrar of Births, entry number of the child’s birth in the register of the New Mbabane Government Hospital in the duration he or she was born and other relevant documents.

“I have every right to have these documents as the husband to my wife because it is clear that she is hiding crucial information from me with no justifiable or lawful reason. I fear that if the child belongs to me and I am not in possession of the documents required in this application, I will be unable to register the child as a beneficiary to my estate,” he states.