Parliament opposes clauses in Draft Maintenance Bill

The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has vehemently opposed a clause in the Maintenance Amendment Bill that would see applicants for maintenance pay the cost to cellular phone providers to trace defaulters.

Committee Chairperson, Dr Mathole Motshekga, said if this clause was kept in its current form, it would prevent many poor people, especially women, from accessing maintenance. The Committee agreed that the clause should be changed to read that the State must bear the cost, should an applicant not be able to afford the payment charged by service providers. A means test could be used to ascertain this. The State can then later recover the cost from the defaulter. In the case where an applicant is able to pay, that party should bear the cost.

“If this clause remains, children and women will suffer because without maintenance, children are not adequately protected and their survival is at stake. The burden cannot be for women and children,” said Dr Motshekga. The cost involved to cellular service provider is about R80.

Another contentious clause that the Committee wants redrafting is the one where the names of defaulters would be blacklisted by the credit bureau. Dr Motshekga said if you limit credit worthiness, you limit the ability of defaulters to pay.

“Defaulters will have to pay a lawyer to have their names removed from the blacklisting. This money could have been used to pay maintenance. A different effective mechanism should be found to sanction defaulters.” The Committee has suggested that a garnishee order might be one such option to follow. The Committee further suggested the department look at other options in this regard. The Committee held public hearings on the Bill and is currently debating the amendments.

For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Rajaa Azzakani
Tel: 021 403 8437
Cell: 081 703 9542
E-mail: razzakani@parliament.gov.za

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