adminThandeka Moyo Court Reporter
A BAKERS INN maintenance manager left a Bulawayo court in stitches yesterday when he blamed recurrent deaths in his family for failure to pay maintenance for his child. Dennis Mpefa, who earns about $1,300 a month, told Bulawayo magistrate Victor Mpofu that he had footed many funeral expenses for his relatives and was failing to pay $250 maintenance demanded by his estranged wife, Elizabeth.
She had dragged Mpefa to court seeking a garnish order to have the money deducted from his salary as he was failing to personally deposit the money into her account monthly.
“Your Worship, I have a lot of responsibilities and of late we have been having many funerals at home. As the sole bread winner I have been using my money on funerals and as a result I have been failing to keep up with paying maintenance for my child,” said Mpefa.
“I am willing to pay maintenance as I have done but for now I am heavily indebted and if you order a garnish, I will not even pay rent, which is $400 monthly.
“This court should understand that I only agreed to pay $250 in 2012 because I was entitled to $1,300 plus incentives. These days I only get my $1,300 and it is difficult for me to pay the $250 monthly.”
Elizabeth begged the court to grant her the garnish order as a way of bringing an end to her misery.
“Your Worship, I always go through a tough time to have this man pay maintenance for his child. I am working and I need him to help me take care of the child but he chooses to take loans and expects me to understand that he uses money on everything and not on his child,” she said.
Magistrate Mpofu rebuked Mpefa for being irresponsible. “I understand what you are saying but surely you cannot fail to pay $250 from $1,300 considering that this is the only child you have and you are not married.
“You cannot pay $400 rent monthly while staying alone and claim you cannot afford $250 for your child. We will therefore grant this woman a garnish order to cure your borrowing problems,” he said.
Online Reporter