THE feud between sungura musician Alick Macheso and his estranged wife Fortunate Tafadzwa Mapako took a new twist yesterday with the two accusing each other of chickening out from DNA tests to determine paternity of their two children.
CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
The two “missed” each other at the agreed venue and failed to have their blood samples collected.
The couple and their two children had, through their respective lawyers, agreed to have their blood samples collected at 2pm at the National Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) laboratory in Harare.
The DNA tests are meant to establish the true paternity of the couple’s children following concerns by the musician that the children might not be his.
Mapako’s lawyer, David Ngwerume, yesterday accused Macheso of “chickening out”.
“We went to the BTS at exactly 2pm together with our client and her two children because the other party’s lawyer had written to us informing us that the blood samples would be taken at that time, but to our surprise, they were not there. In fact, they chickened out,” Ngwerume said.
“We went inside and checked everywhere and found no one, but later I received a call from Macheso’s lawyer advising us that they had not made any booking at all. They are the ones who had informed us of the date and time, but surprisingly they no longer want the tests to be conducted.”
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But Macheso’s lawyer, Norman Mugiya, hit back, accusing his counterpart of playing truancy.
“What they are saying is not true at all. We went to BTS before them and when we got there we were told that we should pay for the tests in South African rands. So we rushed to the bank to go and change the US dollars to rands and I called the lawyers and advised them of the situation and requested them to just wait for 15 minutes,” Mugiya said.
“When we went back after getting the money we did not find anyone. They had gone and had switched off their mobile phones. However, we paid the required R1 800 plus $400 and the receptionist indicated that they needed Mapako’s ID and her children’s birth certificate numbers in order for them to process the papers. As soon as that is done, the parties will then be advised of the new date for blood sample extraction. I later managed to call the lawyers after 3pm and they advised me that their client had already gone.”
The order for paternity tests was granted this week by Harare magistrate Tafadzwa Muvhami, after he ordered Macheso to pay $1 030 per month for Mapako and the two minor children’s maintenance.
