THE issue of determining the disputed paternity of a child has been a controversial and popular topic for most talk shows ranging from The Jerry Springer Show, Ricki Lake and Trisha.

While this topic has made for compelling, "trash TV" viewing, the reality is many women in South Africa find themselves amid the drama of having to prove who their baby's daddy is.

Interestingly, and quite controversially, some cultures actually claim to "know" how to determine the paternity of a child by "examining" the child for ancestral marks.

This has seen women in some rural communities shunned and turned away to raise their children alone after this traditional method failed to support their claims. In many cases, the woman is deemed the liar, and the man's word taken as gospel.

This sentiment of following a gut feeling to determine paternity was reinforced by an elder Sowetan spoke to, Nomusa Mpunzi, of Pimville in Soweto. She is a grandmother and says she has always been able to determine if a grandchild was part of the family or not.

"If a child is introduced to me [by my sons ], and there's perhaps any doubt or scepticism about paternity, I take them and lay them on my chest. If this child screeches and cries incessantly, it's not my blood. This formula has never failed me. It's what we do in our culture, " she says.

Someone who experienced a similar rejection was Itumeleng Serasengwe, a 22-year-old student from Ledig, near Rustenburg in North West. She is a single mother who says her situation was a result of being shunned by the family of the boy who made her pregnant.

"I was 15 when I fell pregnant. Young and naive, and fell for the 'I love you' line. After my aunt discovered my pregnancy, they followed the custom of going to the boy's place to ask him to acknowledge having made me pregnant. To my shock, the boy not only denied impregnating me, but said he didn't even know me. I was devastated."

Itumeleng says the issue was never brought up again and she has since raised her son, who is now seven, alone.

Traditionalist Jongisilo Pokwana ka Menziwa says the practice of elders claiming to determine paternity is outdated, and that DNA testing should be embraced.

"The practice came about when there were no resources like DNA testing in place to determine paternity. So the elders would find defining features on a child that they recognised, be it facial features or defining characteristics. But now since times have changed, we should move with the times," he says.

Pokwana rubbished the practice of women being turned away when some men deny their role in their pregnancies. "People should stop hiding behind culture to perpetuate averting responsibility. If there is a dispute regarding paternity, the necessary medical tests should be done," he says.

Doctor John Wesley Pooe, who has recently introduced DNA testing to his practice in Soweto, says he has not only seen a lot of women vindicated, but has also come across a lot of men who after paying maintenance for a child they thought was theirs, learned the awful truth later that they were not the fathers.

"DNA testing hasn't been a popular option within our communities, and this has seen a lot of mistakes happening. The one case that stood out for me was a father who brought in his 16-year-old child to have a DNA test done.

He had been paying maintenance, but had been told by his girlfriend's friends that he was being taken for a ride and finally came in to learn the truth. When the results came back and he wasn't the father, he was devastated. My heart went out to him."