No mother and child reunion, despite court ruling

Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court has overturned last year’s landmark ruling in which a biological father of a child born out of wedlock was granted parental control through joint custody. High Court Justice Happious Zhou, who presided over the case involving Frank Buyanga and girlfriend Chantellle Muteswa, declared that the common law rule granting guardianship and sole custody rights of a child born out of wedlock to the mother, was inconsistent with the new Constitution and therefore invalid. The Herald reports that the ruling therefore granted Buyanga joint custody of his minor son. Muteswa appealed to the Supreme Court which said the ruling was made without establishing if joint custody was in the best interests of the child. In a twist in the saga, Buyanga claims he does not know where their child is, and Muteswa’s lawyers believe he might have been taken out of the country.

Full report in The Herald (subscription needed)