By Craig Bishop
The nephew of kwaSizabantu Mission director Reverend Erlo Stegen, Dieter Stegen, has admitted he fathered a child out of wedlock, according to the affidavit of the child’s aunt in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
Erlo Stegen, Dieter Stegen and the kwaSizabantu Mission are seeking a court interdict to prevent Erlo’s brother, Bodo, and break-away kwaSizabantu pastors Barney Mabaso and Phangumusa Mntungwa from alleging that his nephew is the father of the child.
Paul Mkhwanazi (8) was born on June 20, 1992, after an “unduly intimate relationship” with the boy’s mother, congregation member Khululiwe Angel Mkhwanazi.
A DNA test carried out by the Natal Blood Transfusion Service in February concluded that Dieter Stegen could be “excluded” as the biological father of the boy although Mabaso, Bodo Stegen and Mntungwa have all claimed the test results could have been falsified since no affidavit from the NBTS service manager was given to the court.
Last month Mabaso said in his court affidavit that rumours of Dieter Stegen’s “promiscuity” were “widespread” at the mission.
Mkhwanazi’s sister, Nana Ntombiyomusa Ndlovu, said her sister was “romantically involved” with Dieter Stegen before she fell pregnant.
Ndlovu said when she had tried to visit Dieter at his Mtunzini house, his father Heino Stegen had sworn at her and called her a “loose woman and a prostitute”.
Ndlovu claimed that Dieter said he accepted the child was his as a “gift from God and he could not deny his blood” but that he did not dare announce the fact publicly because his father would disinherit him.
The case was adjourned until September 5. All costs were reserved.