Fathers give Social Development Minister ultimatum over equal rights

Fathers fighting for rights to see their children have warned Social Development minister Lindiwe Zulu that the time is up to respond after waiting more than a year for answers.

Last year in February, Sicelo Mbonani and Solomon Mondlane protested in an 11-day hunger strike outside the department in Pretoria, calling on the minister to help them get to see their children.

A year later, another father who believes his rights were taken away from him, Castro Musinyali, chair of We Are Fathers We Are Parents Forum, has come forward and said he has also been struggling to see his child, who is in the care of the grandparents.

“I recently got a call from Midrand police who said they have a court order they want to deliver to me about my child.”

He said his daughter has been visiting him since 2 January and will return her to grandparents at the end of this week.

“The reason I kept her is that in December they denied me access to her as per interim court order and I left it like that until they gave her to me in January.”

Musinyali said he expects his child’s grandparents to go to court after he kept his daughter with him longer than agreed on.

“It is because I was denied access. I will defend myself,” he said.

Fathers’ rights activist Tshepo Maponyane said they were getting fed up and wanted answers from the minister of social  development who must demand information from Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola after waiting almost a year for feedback following various complaints.

Maponyane said they approached the South Africa Gender Commission in March last year which also wrote to the minister.

“The minister promised to respond by December but still nothing.”

Maponyane said all they wanted was for the minister to respond and to hear their grievances.

“The department has been given until this Thursday to respond and it’s a final forum as per the Gender Commission mandate then after that legal steps will be instituted,” Maponyane said.

“As South African fathers, ours is to highlight the systematic inequality fathers are facing in courts and how the rights of a child are prejudiced.

“Cases have different merits and we, as a society, are always advocating for equality not selective equality or equality in certain spheres but total equality.”

– marizkac@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.