In an attempt to avoid paying child maintenance, a truck driver, Samuel Dhokotera, has obtained a second birth certificate for his daughter, falsely listing his brother and second wife as the parents.
The situation arose after Samuel’s ex-wife, Priscilla Mupfukudzwa (39), applied for child maintenance for their daughter, Yvonne, following their divorce in 2013.
Samuel (41) took a deceptive route by acquiring a second birth certificate for Yvonne (15), this time using his brother Jeremiah’s name as the father and naming his second wife as the mother. His intention was to deceive the company where he works, preventing salary deductions for child support.
As a result, Yvonne now possesses two birth certificates. One of them identifies Samuel and Priscilla as her parents, while the other document indicates Jeremiah as the father and Samuel’s second wife, Netsai Manzinde, as the mother. The second birth certificate was obtained in Nyanga District.
Priscilla revealed that she left Samuel due to ongoing abuse and expressed regret over their marriage. She stated, “I regret ever marrying Samuel because of what I went through. When we split, I threatened to apply for maintenance, which led him to acquire a second birth certificate for our child.”
Samuel is gainfully employed at a well-known transport company, while Jeremiah is self-employed. Samuel’s motive for producing a birth certificate in Jeremiah’s name and his second wife’s name was to prevent further salary deductions since Jeremiah is unemployed.
Jeremiah alleged that Samuel had clandestinely taken his identification document, saying, “I never accompanied Samuel to the Registrar’s Office. He must have stolen my identity document.”
Samuel redirected all inquiries to Jeremiah, stating, “Yvonne is my child. As for the other birth certificate, you better ask Jeremiah.”
Both Samuel and Jeremiah are followers of the Johanne Marange sect, which discourages its members from pursuing legal action against each other.
