‘Monied’ Father’s Maintenance Failures Earn Him Weekend Jail Stints, SA Levels Jokes

• A man who refused to pay regular full maintenance was found to be in contempt of an interim order
• The state sentenced the father of three to a periodic commital sentence of 30 days in prison over weekends
• SA's vocal online community offered up a take on the legal sanction after playing out in the Western Cape

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's approach to maintenance matters has received a facelift, coming with handy punishment by societal standards.

A recent example of the court's handling of the commonplace problem came after a reportedly wealthy businessman reverted to a derelict deadbeat.

Father earns himself weekends in jail

After the legal process unravelled between the man and the complainant, his estranged wife, a homemaker, the Western Cape High Court found him to be in contempt of an interim maintenance order.

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Thus, the state sentenced him to 30 days in prison, ordering it to be served over weekends. He would have to report for his incarceration at 17:00 on Fridays and be released at 06:00 on Mondays.

In a SowetanLIVE column, legal practitioner Tina Hokwana noted that the committal sentence was suspended if the man complied with a court order to fulfil several financial obligations he had defaulted on.

Apart from the child maintenance, these included outstanding rental and other educational and health payments within 60 days. The court ordered him to continue complying with the order until the matter was settled.

The couple, with three children, separated in April 2022 after nine years together before the husband left the marital home.

In a later interim maintenance order on 1 March 2024, the court ordered him to make monthly R60,000 payments to his ex-wife for the support of the children.

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However, he only paid R22,500 monthly, R37,500 less than required, towards school fees and medical aid. He refused to pay for other educational and medical expenses and rent.

Hokwana wrote that in court, he argued that his financial circumstances changed in February, hindering his ability to satisfy the order.

Court ponders appropriate sanction

The court did not accept his rebuttal after he failed to take the court into his confidence and bring an application.

The court acceded to his plea for periodic committal — after reasoning that he needed to save his business and exercise contact with the children — and the judge opted to divert to another appropriate sentence.

He was ultimately found in contempt of the maintenance order and sentenced to periodic committal imprisonment of 30 days over weekends.

However, it was suspended on condition that the ex-husband fulfils the arrear payment order within 60 days and does not default until the matter is finalised.

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The unique litigation and its outcome opened the floor to robust sentiments from an invested online community.

Many social media observers found the case compelling and applauded the justice system's handling of maintenance cases in their own hilarious way.

Briefly News looks at the colourful reactions.

@mehlulisizwe joked:

"Just imagine becoming a 26 gang member part-time on weekends."

@shirleyheavens wrote:

"He will be in prison during weekends to save that papgeld."

@Nokwazi_Zee laughed:

"Sorry to laugh, but this is funny. That judge cooked."

@Choc_Strauws said:

"Judge said, 'No problem, let's be proactive then'."

@Charmzo_man quizzed:

"Can we do the same with women who lie about who the fathers of their babies are?"

@ziyandas mentioned:

"I’d request 30 consecutive days and get over and done with it."

Woman divorces husband for cheating

In related news, Briefly News reported that a woman divorcing from her husband demanded R100,000 in maintenance for their three children.

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The woman brought an application before the Durban High Court seeking that she be granted interim maintenance for her and their children.

Source: Briefly News