The thorny issue of making DNA testing compulsory, especially in maintenance matters, is currently sowing division among parliamentarians.
Some say these tests would cause more tension among families, and others believe it would help solve the issue of children growing up without fathers.
This comes after minister of presidential affairs Christine //Hoëbes earlier this year said she is pushing for DNA tests to be made mandatory and accessible.
“I am proposing that we look into measures on how to make DNA testing more accessible, as well as measures to bring this father to the table when he refuses,” she said at the time.
However, Landless People’s Movement parliamentarian Utaara Mootu describes the matter as complex.
“It could sooth the growing concerns of men raising children that are not theirs,” she says.
On the other hand, Mootu says DNA testing raises concerns about data security and individual autonomy.
“Mandatory DNA testing at birth could help confirm paternity, potentially reducing cases of fatherless children …
“However it may not solve the issue entirely as the concept of fatherlessness emanates from various factors, including absent fathers, family dynamics, and social circumstances,” she says.
Popular Democratic Movement lawmaker Winnie Moongo says mandatory DNA testing would not solve any social ill.
“If anything, it may increase the social ills we are faced with. The question that should be asked are: Why would a woman feel the need to attribute a pregnancy to someone else?
“Unemployment, social inequity, poverty, and the fact that the current regime is failing the youth is the root cause of the problem,” she says.
Moongo also highlighted the cost of mandatory DNA testing.
‘PRIVATE MATTER’
Minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula says paternity tests are available for those who require them.
“It is a private matter, though. Those who require it would have to bear the cost,” he says.
Another young lawmaker, Maximilliant Katjimune, is adamant that DNA testing should be made compulsory.
“This would remove any doubt and prevent future awkward situations where men end up finding out the child they thought was theirs is not actually theirs,” he says.
Katjimune says this could have a catastrophic psychological impact on all parties involved, and has even led to cases of gender-based violence.
“We must also encourage our women to be honest, and men to acknowledge and support their children if paternity is proven,” he says.
Deputy health minister Utjiua Muinjangue says: “DNA testing could also fuel tension and stress, not only to the mother and father, but in the family.
“Privacy could be compromised. But on the other hand, it would confirm who the real father is …
“It needs more research … It is more about how to instil values and morals in our people so that we don’t find ourselves in a situation of denying fatherhood or even not knowing with certainty who the father of my child could be.”
//Hoëbes in April said DNA testing helps both parents gain legal clarity.
She said measures must be put in place to subsidise DNA testing fees.
Minister of justice Yvonne Dausab earlier this year said the question of paternity only applies when a particular individual denies paternity.
Dausab said some women accuse men falsely.
“There are examples where men had paid and kept the child for a very long time, and it turns out the child is not theirs,” she said.
Dausab said mandatory DNA testing would make sense when one of the two parties is denying paternity, or is unsure about paternity.
The unsure party normally pays for the DNA test, she said.
“And I know there is a cost challenge around that. Over the years, however, when there has been an indication that both parties are unable to pay, the Ministry of Justice would carry the cost,” the minister said.
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Erongo Regional Council chairperson Benitha Imbamba says: “There have been cases where some men have committed suicide because of the humiliation suffered after the sudden news that the child they raised is not theirs. Some men even kill both the mother and children because of the heartbreak and disappointment.
“I therefore strongly believe it is necessary to have DNA testing done in cases where there is doubt.”
Ondonga Traditional Authority spokesperson France Enkali says the authority has not handled any paternity cases, since it does not have the equipment to conduct DNA tests.
“Such matters are usually handled by the senior traditional councillors and village headmen,” he says.
“What we normally do is to hear both sides of the matter and question the affected complainants and give a probability, resulting from the reasons given by the affected parties,” he says.
Enkali says some communities conduct rituals to determine paternity.
“The paternal side of the child usually warns the mother that something bad might happen to the child if it’s not theirs, before they conduct their rituals,” he says.
‘LITTLE RESONANCE’
Historian Shampapi Shiremo says DNA testing has little resonance among the Kavango people.
He says lineage is normally determined through the mother’s recognition of the father.
“The Kavango people are taught from an early age that a child belongs to its mother, and a man might just be a father by appointment.
“So it doesn’t matter whether the child belongs to the man biologically or not. What matters is that the woman carrying the child in her womb pointed out the man she thinks is the father,” he says.
THE TRUTH
Chief Dawid Hanse from the Simon Kooper Traditional Authority at Amperbo in the Hardap region says most paternity disputes revolve around women passing off a child to a more affluent person.
He says these children are then registered under that person’s name and surname.
However, thereafter the truth surfaces.
“Either the girls cannot handle the lie they told and will come out with the truth, or the true father would insist on the truth,” Hanse says.
In cases where the truth does not surface Hanse says the traditional authority refers a couple for DNA testing.
“But, here the challenge we face is who will take responsibility to book the tests and pay for it.”
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