Address by the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Honourable JH Jeffery, MP, at the Maintenance Awareness March, held at eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Durban
Programme Director,
Premier Senzo Mchunu,
The Mayor of EThekwini Metro, Cllr James Nxumalo,
Judge Fikile Mokgohloa,
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Noko,
The Chairperson of SANTACO KZN, Mr Zondi,
Colleagues from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development,
Representatives from other government departments, Legal Aid SA and the NPA,
Members of civil society,
Ladies and gentlemen.
As one walks into any shopping centre one cannot miss the many shops reminding one of Father’s Day or advertising various Father’s Day gifts. But for many children in our country, this coming Sunday will not be a cause for celebration.
In 2013 the South African Institute of Race Relations found that only a third (33%) of children in South Africa live with both their parents. The rest live with single parents, on their own, with relatives, or in foster care. Just over 39% of children live with their mothers only and about 4% live with their fathers only.
We are here today to talk about maintenance, but really I want to talk about more than that, not only about providing financial care, but about parental involvement and responsible parenting.
A recent study, undertaken by the Centre for Social Development in Africa, the University of Johannesburg and Sonke Gender Justice, on the topic of absent fathers – or as the title of the report calls them, “ATM Fathers”- finds that South Africa has a high number of absent living fathers. They define an “absent father” as fathers that do not live with their children, do not maintain communication and do not pay maintenance. The study reveals that one father out of two is absent from his child’s life in South Africa.
The proportion of African children under the age of 15 years with absent living fathers increased from 45% to 52% between 1996 and 2009. There has also been an increase for Coloured children (from 34% to 41%), and for White children (from 13% to 15%).
The report discusses a variety of consequences, perceived by the participants as taking their toll on children, as a result of having an absent father. It also found that fathers who had regular contact with their children either daily or several times a week or a month were more likely to contribute to the financial support of their children.
A significant challenge that we face when it comes to maintenance is that many parents misrepresent their true financial position, thus impacting adversely on the fairness of maintenance awards and the ability of the system to recover arrears.
A further challenge is that the number of children who suffer from parental lack of support increases at an alarming rate - approximately 44 121 new applications in each quarter. This means is that in every quarter there are almost 45 000 parents who fail to maintain their children. The number of maintenance orders granted has increased by 56% from 2011/12 to 2013/14.
Our Department responds to these challenges in different ways. For example, we piloted the Maintenance Turnaround Strategy at 9 courts. Through this strategy the Department introduced maintenance mediation services to speed up the finalization of cases. Many applications for maintenance are now finalized through mediation services that often result in the granting of consent orders on the same day of application, if both parties are in court.
It is faster, as it saves parties from going through the formal maintenance enquiry that often takes months to be finalized.
Through this innovation, the Department has significantly cut down the turnaround time in pre-order maintenance services.
A further improvement brought by the Maintenance Turnaround Strategy is the introduction of the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) system that allows beneficiaries to receive monies within 4 days after receipt of such payments by the Department.
Through EFT system, the Department now transfers monies directly into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. This saves beneficiaries time and money travelling to court to collect these monies.
At present, 98% of the beneficiaries are on the EFT system. From April 2014 to March 2015 at total of R 162 663 925 was paid via EFT payments to approximately 227 000 beneficiaries per month.
Those who are not on EFT system yet are mostly non-nationals or persons who do not have ID documents required by banking institutions to open a bank account. The Department is continually engaging with the Department of Home Affairs and banking institutions to assist these clients.
The Department has been annually increasing the number of Maintenance Officers and Maintenance Investigators and has appointed complaints managers in all regions and the national office to manage maintenance services complaints from the public.
Here in KZN we have seen various initiatives to improve the maintenance system. For the past three years the Kwazulu Natal Regional Office has conducted outreach events on responsible fathering. The events were organised to promote responsible fathering among men to ensure that fathers understood, and accepted their responsibility to pay maintenance.
Responsible fathering campaigns were held with the Ethekweni Municipality, South African Police services, Metro Rail, Toyota SA and various other community based outreaches.
During these programmes men were informed of the legislative mechanisms that may be enforced by the Maintenance Court to ensure fathers are held liable for their responsibilities. However men were also informed of the importance to ensure they know their children, form relationships with them and ensure that their children are educated and fed.
There is an African saying that “when you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.” Cognizant thereof that children will one day themselves be parents, fathers were encouraged to build relationships and ensure that they not only served as a source of financial income but became more involved in the lives of their children.
In order to improve the services of the maintenance courts in our province, the KZN Regional Office purchased digital cameras for all maintenance courts in the province to be used as part of the investigation process.
It is especially difficult to prove employment within the informal sector of the economy and the cameras assist the investigators in obtaining photographic evidence that the respondent is indeed employed.
In terms of the Maintenance Act and the Regulations, maintenance officers are empowered to take photographs of respondents appearing in the maintenance court. The accessibility of the digital camera will ensure that maintenance officers are able to enforce these provisions of the Act.
Pursuant to our desire to improve the child maintenance system in KZN, a provincial workshop was held for 120 maintenance officials from maintenance courts throughout the province. The workshop aimed to educate officials on the legislative mechanisms that must be implemented to ensure that maintenance defaulters are dealt with and maintenance payments are prioritised. We strongly believe that empowering officials will create a stronger and more efficient system that will ensure every application is appropriately considered.
What about fathers who come to us and say, I am unemployed, I really have nothing, so I cannot pay maintenance? They too, can and should, play a meaningful role in their children lives. I was struck by some of the things the respondents, in the report I mentioned earlier, said. One said –
“I wake up in the morning checking nappies, I know where the nappies are. There is no documented book which says as a man you don’t have to change nappies.”
And a participant in Alexandra put it this way:
“A father plays an important part in a child’s life because it gives that child a sense of belonging, an identity, a background and the child knows his roots”.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s event would not be possible without the valued support and assistance from our partners, in particular SANTACO.
In June last year the KZN Regional Office launched a provincial partnership with the KZN South African National Taxi Association. The collaboration was created to address the large number of men in the taxi industry that do not pay maintenance, refuse to attend maintenance courts and to raise awareness of the penalties that are enforceable in respect of defaulters.
Since the partnership was formed, maintenance officers and investigators were able to locate taxi drivers with ease.
Many taxi associations cooperated with the court officials that sought their help and in some instances even implemented disciplinary measures to taxi drivers that failed to abide by court orders for maintenance.
A presentation of 1000 bumper stickers that reads ‘pay your maintenance-it’s the right thing to do!’ will be made to the Chairman of the KZN Taxi Council to distribute to 1000 taxis in the province. We envisage that this initiative will help spread the message not only to taxi personnel but also to commuters.
There is a saying that a great father raises his child up, puts the child on his shoulders, so that the child can reach the stars.
Thank you, therefore, to the following stakeholders for the very valuable role they continue to play in encouraging responsible fatherhood: NICRO, Child Welfare, Child Line, Khulisa, SANCA (South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drugs), Women of Wentworth, and Brothers for Life.
Also our appreciation to every government official who goes the extra mile to assist children and families within the justice system.
We commend each and every parent, be it mother or father, who makes sacrifices daily to ensure that their children are cared for and nurtured.
I thank you.
