Son turns down maintenance from dad

Lethokuhle MoyoCourt Reporter
A SEVENTEEN year old boy has declined maintenance after his mother dragged his father to court demanding R10,000 per month for herself, the teenager and his two siblings.

The boy’s mother, Gracious Moyo, was claiming R2,500 for herself and R7,500 for her three children including her 17-year-old son. She said the injiva Josphat Moyo earns R5,000 per week. The boy swore before Bulawayo Magistrate Sheunesu Matova that even though his mother had included him in the maintenance application, he does not want any payment from his father.

“Your worship, I just don’t want to be included in this whole maintenance issue,” the boy said.

He was not asked anything else after his statement.

Magistrate Matova ordered Moyo to pay R1,000 to his wife and R600 each to his two children and the teenager was left out.

Gracious told the court that she was claiming the money because Moyo was no longer providing for them. She added that when he came from South Africa for the maintenance hearing, he did not sleep at their house.

“Your worship, I’m only hearing it now that my son doesn’t want to be maintained but anyway I’m now claiming maintenance for myself and the other two children,’ she said.

She said she was diagnosed with cancer and HIV and is no longer able to work to earn a living. Moyo told the court that he did not sleep at his house because he was angry that his wife had dragged him to court. He was fearful that he could end up doing something to her that could have resulted in his arrest. He added that he only stopped providing for his wife this year because Gracious does not respect him as she sold his cattle without telling him.

“Your worship, I’m a Zimbabwean not a South African, and anytime I can be fired from work because of the way she approached my employers. If I come back unemployed and find no cattle then how are my children going to survive?” said Moyo.

“Since she has dragged me to court, is she going to reimburse my cattle because she’s destroyed my children’s homestead? In my culture, a woman doesn’t sell cattle without her husband’s approval.”

“She should’ve discussed the issue with me, not to drag me to court. It was going to be solved out of court if she had engaged the family,” he said.

Moyo said he earns R2,630 a week and offered to give his wife R1,000 and R600 each to his children.

“I understand that you have a lot of issues to deal with but these are small issues that can be solved as a family. As you can see now, your problems have affected your children,” Matova said, pointing to the son who declined to be maintained.