LYRICS of Afunika’s popular song ‘Tefumo lyandi’ (It’s not my pregnancy) were brought to life when a man of Livingstone denied paternity of a child with his former lover. Ernest Simuyuni demanded for a DNA test in the Livingstone Local Court to prove that the child is his. He told the court that he only had sex with his former lover Mirriam Nkhoma twice.

Simuyuni told the court that Nkhoma had also revealed to him that the pregnancy was for another man. Simuyuni sued Nkhoma, of 45/149 Namatama Township, demanding for a DNA test. The child was born in November 2016. The court heard that Simuyuni and Nkhoma were involved in a sexual relationship and had sex twice between February 14 and 18 in 2016.

“But she was also involved in another relationship though she never told me his name. In May 2016, she told me she was pregnant for me and I thought it was a joke,” Simuyuni said. He said Nkhoma’s friend, Theresa Chuta, also confided in him and told him the pregnancy was not his. “Even her relatives told me the pregnancy was not mine,” he told the court. In her testimony, Nkhoma told the court that their relationship started in 2016 and that she was pregnant by March the same year.

“We agreed to do a DNA test when he came to see the child three weeks after he was born,” she said. However, passing judgment, senior local court magistrate Langson Matafwali said the handling of cases of affiliation and maintenance of non-marital children is a preserve of the Subordinate Court and High Court. The court said it has no jurisdiction.