Statistics from leading DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) laboratories suggest that eighty (80) per cent of men who suspect their partners cheated on them are having their suspicions confirmed by tests.
The Sunday Mail Society reports that there has been a massive increase in demand for voluntary paternity tests by both married and single men in the last two years.
Previously, it was mostly the courts that drove couples to undertake tests as a way to settle maintenance or inheritance disputes.
But, with recent court statistics proving that over 70 per cent of women who claim maintenance from alleged fathers were paternity cheats, men have naturally become sceptical.
One laboratory is currently handling not less than 60 cases per month. Revealed Global DNA Diagnostic Centre principal consultant Tinashe Mugabe:
We have more of negative than positive results, meaning most of the supposed fathers are excluded as such. At least 80 percent of the man that suspect their partners to be cheating are being proven right.
He said incest, phone messages, maintenance, questionable behaviour on social media and promiscuity are other major reasons driving paternity test requests.
An official from another DNA testing company, Expedite DNA Zimbabwe, confirmed the shocking trend saying the number of fathers raising children who are not theirs has been rising.
Demand for prenatal DNA tests, also known as non-invasive prenatal screening, is also on the rise. The process at times involves taking a blood sample from the alleged father and the mother to conduct a fetal cell analysis.
Mugabe said those who take prenatal tests would be intending to avoid the costs of a pregnancy that is not theirs and some feel it is much wiser and easy to deal with the paternity issue before a child is born.
The pregnancy has to be two or more months older for the test to be conducted.
General paternity test costs between US$120 and US$220 while in some cases the figures can go to as high as US$500.
Results are often obtained after a week.
More: The Sunday Mail