Zuma denies not paying maintenance for his 14-year-old daughter

Tobeka Madiba-Zuma was whisked in and out of the Durban Magistrate’s Court building on Tuesday, where she took up maintenance issues regarding her and former president Jacob Zuma’s teenage daughter.

Accompanied by a security detail, Madiba-Zuma was hidden from media and left the Maintenance Court through an alternate exit.

Her security team and a court official addressed the media, as she should not be recorded. Journalists were then asked to give her space to leave.

News24 reported that Zuma’s legal team had denied claims that he was not been paying maintenance for his 14-year-old daughter.

Lawyer Eric Mabuza earlier said the decision to approach the Durban Magistrate’s Court was regrettable.

Mabuza said the former president denied claims made by Madiba-Zuma that he was not paying maintenance for his 14-year-old daughter, saying he had always looked after his family and had supported his child since she was born.

Mabuza denied claims that Zuma had not supported his child since he and his wife split up earlier this year.

He said that since the child was born, Madiba-Zuma had not worked, and that the former president had been supporting his child for the past 13 or 14 years.

Mabuza said the matter should have been resolved within the family and that Madiba-Zuma’s complaints should have been handled with “the necessary decorum and respect”, News24 reported earlier.

Zuma himself did not appear, but was represented by advocate Nqabayethu Buthelezi.

IOL reported on Monday that Tobeka was claiming R14 000 from Zuma after they had been estranged for six months.

Earlier this year, the relationship between the former president and his third wife soured amid claims that Tobeka took sensitive SIM cards belonging to Zuma.

They have not been living together since.

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