Controversial socialite Susan Mutami, who is based in Australia, has urged Zimbabwean men to stop requesting paternity tests, claiming women never lie about who fathered their children.
Mutami says she has had children with public figures including former ZANU PF Mashonaland West chairman and ex-Norton MP Temba Mliswa and the late former Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo.
She and Mliswa had a long-running dispute over the paternity of their son, which was only settled after a DNA test conducted by Identilab confirmed Mliswa is the biological father of Tinotenda Cripper Mliswa.
Despite this, Mutami said the test was unnecessary, and Mliswa should have simply taken her word for it.
“I have a problem with men who ask for a paternity test on the kids. If a woman says you are the father, just accept your fate and don’t ask too many questions,” she wrote on X.
“To this day I feel offended [that] my son had to do a test just to prove a point. I take baby-making very seriously, and as women we never lie when it comes to those issues. Sometimes as men u have to look at the bigger picture.”
Her comments come at a time when demand for paternity testing is rising in Zimbabwe. Private testing company Global DNA Zimbabwe has reported that 72 per cent of tests it conducts return negative, with only 28 per cent confirming paternity.
However, at the National University of Science and Technology’s Applied Genetics Testing Centre, 97 cases processed in 2025 showed a different pattern, with 60 confirming paternity and 37 returning negative – about 38 per cent negative.
Fact-checkers note that the higher figure from private labs can be misleading if taken as a national average, as it comes from a self-selected group of men who already strongly suspect the child is not theirs and have paid to be tested.
