Picketing for children’s rights
BRYANBRINK – Parents and children picket outside Randburg Magistrates Court
Parents and children, accompanied by members of the organisation Child Maintenance Difficulties in South Africa (CMDSA), picketed outside the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on 11 December.
They handed a memorandum of grievances to senior magistrates before they continued singing outside the court.
Their list of grievances included demands to immediately lift the freeze on hiring staff in the maintenance courts, full compliance with the Maintenance Act and provided recourse, as well as the immediate implementation of the blacklisting of a provision that was promulgated in 2015.
The picketers and CMDSA also demanded the immediate implementation of consequences for defaulters, which includes periodic imprisonment (over weekends) and community service.
CMDSA’s Johan Botha also joined parents and children outside the court with his own picket sign.
“As citizens of South Africa, we demand urgent intervention in the maintenance courts in our country where service delivery is declining every month,” said Botha.
“The courts are complicit in the abuse of children by not upholding the Constitution and failing in their duty as the ultimate guardian of children to act in the best interest of the child is paramount.”
The organisation demanded that the Minister of Justice, Michael Masutha, must comply with the Constitution and prioritise upholding the rights of children and the parents acting on their behalf.
Zeenat Paruk, who was chanting with the rest of the picketers, said the courts were not doing enough to bring defaulters to account.
“I am here to picket against how women are treated in court when they lodge maintenance issues. The courts do nothing when [maintenance] defaulters fail to pitch up for their scheduled appointments,” said Paruk.
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