ZAOGA church girl conceals HIV status in order to marry

A ZAOGA church girl who concealed her HIV status in order to marry, on Friday applied for custody of her three-month-old baby after being forced to give up the child three days after its birth. Yolanda Nyangaza filed for custody of her child at the Harare Civil Court against her estranged husband Valentine Munetsi.

In her narration Nyangaza told the court that she worked at church premises when she met Munetsi. The court heard that Nyangaza knew of her HIV status, but decided to keep it a secret until her boyfriend had sexual intercourse with her.

“He pressured me into having sex and I failed to tell him the truth until I fell pregnant. I was sacked from my employment at church premises because it is church policy that one should not fall pregnant before marriage,” she said.

Nyangaza told the court that she then married her husband in December while she was four months pregnant, but still she had not told him of her status.

“When I went to see my gynaecologist she suggested that I go for testing, I was found positive and my husband negative. He demanded that we go on separation because he could not stomach it and I decided to tell him the truth,” she said.

She gave birth while the parties were on separation and three days after giving birth he made her surrender the child to him.

“Initially I allowed him to take the child, but I asked where they were taking the child but he refused to say,” she said.

She added that she was later allowed access on appointment for not more than 10 minutes.

Responding to the allegations Munetsi who was represented by his lawyer told the court that the doctors advised Nyangaza to avoid breast feeding the child to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga postponed the matter to Tuesday for ruling.