A total of 32 men have submitted formal requests to the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) urging the cancellation of their children’s passports following DNA tests that revealed they are not the biological fathers.
Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, confirmed that these men, whose identities are being kept confidential, had previously applied for and obtained passports for their wives and children. However, subsequent DNA testing exposed the truth, leading the men to approach the authorities and demand the removal of their details from their children’s passports.
Mundeyi explained that, as the DCIC, they do not possess the authority to cancel passports in such cases. Instead, complainants are required to visit the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) to update their personal information. The DCIC acknowledged that the recent media coverage of similar situations had inspired men to conduct DNA tests on their own children.
One recent case involved a man working in Europe who, upon having his six children undergo DNA tests, discovered that none of them were biologically related to him. Astonishingly, the man had been providing education for all six children in international schools.
According to Mundeyi, the man decided to pursue DNA analysis after an argument with his wife, during which she claimed that some of the children were not his own. Although the wife later admitted that she made the statement out of anger, the man proceeded with a secret DNA test at the Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL).
“While the man contested the initial results, we advised him to have samples tested at other laboratories due to his financial means,” Mundeyi stated. “He sent some samples to Canada and others to South Africa. All the subsequent tests confirmed what our DGAL had initially found – none of the six children were biologically related to him.”
Numerous men have been visiting the Ministry of Internal Affairs, providing hair samples from their children for DNA testing. However, they have been advised to take their children to the Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL) for blood samples instead, as hair samples alone are not sufficient for accurate analysis.