Maintenance Action Group
11 August 1998
RESPONSE TO THE MAINTENANCE BILL
Submission by Ndivhuho Sekoba - Co-founder of MAG

1. The Maintenance bill is an interim bill. The new bill still puts the burden of persuing child maintenance on the woman's shoulders. The bill still tacks enforcement.

2. The tracer will perform the functions assigned to him by the Act i.e.
(a) Issuing of summons - subpoenas
(b) To execute warrants of arrests.

3. Jurisdiction
3 1. Many women come to urban areas looking for domestic work and they leave their children under the care of their grandparents. aunties and cousins back in the former homelands. Provision should be made for this point that if both parents are working e.g. in Johannesburg, the mother can apply for maintenance and the money can be sent to the person who looks after the children at home.

3.2 Another problem, however, is that courts are not accessible to lay persons in the rural areas and grandparents will be disadvantaged and they stand no chance of receiving maintenance from the fathers of the children they are looking after.

3.3. The burden of persuasion of maintenance lies with the woman. Women who expose themselves to humiliation in maintenance courts are those who are part of the poorest group in our society and they put themselves in a more vulnerable position by pursuing maintenance from the father. In more cases than one they are targeted for violence by their partners e.g. Yvonne Ramontoedi's case who was brutally murdered by her former husband (a prison warder) in Jonannesburg maintenance court is one example. Judge Hannon took it upon his discretion that 'asking for food for the child constitutes provocation" hence he set the murderer free and sent him back to work. The child is now left without any means of survival with the grandmother who is struggling to raise it.

3.4 As strange and contradictory as it sounds the culture of non-payment is within people who can afford to, such as Ministers, Councillors, teachers, policeman and civil servants. We therefore call for a more participatory process which involves the people who are directly affected (by not receiving any maintenance) in drafting the legislation on maintenance. People who work in factories earning less than R400 a week are people who support their children. The Ramontoedi case, for example, sends out a signal which says to women out there that government does not protect women and children's rights.

4. Legal representation - If the respondent has a legal representative the complainant should also have one. Our experience is that the state prosecutors and maintenance officers are ineffective and are prone to be bribed by the respondent. Non-governmental organisations should be allowed to represent their members (such as the Maintenance Action Group) in the inquiry if they so desire.

5. The bill should empower employers, shop steward in case where the workforce is unionised and/or supervisors to sign subpoenas and summons on behalf of the employees.

6. Children born from the first relationship must be given equal attention or first preference especially in cases where the first child was born out of the wedlock. The practice presently is that religious morals are imposed on parenting where the "illegitimate" child is treated as an outcast who is not liable for equal support (like the child born out of marriage) from his/her father.

7. There should be a statutory minimum payment towards maintenance.

8. In the case of delays maintenance payment should start from the date of the application i.e. backpaid.

9. Black listing with the credit bureau should be invoked when the respondent fails to pay and this measure is one practical "soft" instrument which could go a long to penalise parents who fail to pay for their children.

10. Emolument attachment order - The court must announce a garnishee order from the first day when the respondent agrees to pay.

11. Jail sentence - People who fail to maintain their children must not be sent to jail if they are employed. We should rather use periodical sentence, week-end jail or community service. A principle of rehabilitation and winning parents' mindset (paradigm shift) towards a responsibility to support their children should underpin the bill and the measures which are proposed.

12. A person who gets married to another one who is maintaining his/her child could also contribute towards that payment but must not punish the latter for that This is also one of the principles which seeks to inculcate the culture of parental responsibility generally in the wider society..

13. people who volunteer for stop-order arrangements should be given the application form rather than waiting to have a court dare and NGOs (e. g. Maintenance Action Group) should be allowed to make an arrangement for providing and/or processing stop-orders.