Every day, average South Africans are applying for some kind of debt. It could be a cellphone, a clothing account, a car or even a house.
But for any of these loans to be approved, there needs to be a credit check and once there are unpaid accounts sitting in arrears or default judgments, then the applications can be denied. Your vehicle finance application can be declined because of an unpaid clothing account.
Now, such applications can also be denied because of defaulting on maintenance payments. The department of justice and constitutional development has announced plans to blacklist maintenance defaulters.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Thembi Simelane signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Tshwane where she emphasized the importance of paying maintenance on time, especially those who are employed.
"Let us all be responsible and take care of our children.
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"If someone fails to pay maintenance as per a court order (unless due to lack of means), they are committing a criminal offence and can face fines or imprisonment. Parents are entitled to file criminal charges if maintenance obligations aren't met.
Director General Advocate Doc Mashabane highlighted the importance of child maintenance in our country.
"I am extremely honoured to be here today. We are grateful to the Department, Social Justice Foundation, and Consumer Profile Bureau for this historic partnership to tackle an issue rooted in our national values."
East London based attorney, Lwazi Dekeda of Dekeda Incorporated says in terms of the agreement the parties will participate in the Maintenance Online Listing of Defailulters (MOLD) Project.
"This will allow financial institutions to incorporate maintenance obligations into credit assessments, which is currently not the case. This serves to prioritize the needs of children. This is not a new law, but an additional enforcement strategy so it will not be Gazetted.
"The implication is that defaulters will be prevented from acquiring further credit if they have outstanding maintenance obligations.
Counselling psychologist Dr Joshua Ndlela says it should be noted that our child development is heavily influenced by the environment they grow up in.
"Some children are more vulnerable to being ruled by feelings of child perceived neglect and it is not a desired environment for children. In this type of environment, a child is not taught how emotions work, they observe, imitate and later model the very same child perceived neglect to their own children when they reach an adulthood.
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"A parent or guardian still must pay maintenance, even if the other parent remarries, is involved in another relationship, and maintain your child even if the other parent does not allow you to see the children. Our fights should not have a negative effect on the child perceived neglect.
We all know that some parents in our communities and locations get to a point of defaulting to pay a child maintenance deliberately due to multifaceted reasons and leave these obligations felt by one parent.
"There is need for both parents to better understand our children's psychological effects when they get to know that one of the parents is compelled to pay a child maintenance. Sometimes parents might be fixed in the process of fighting for a child maintenance when on the other hand, parents do not see and understand the perceived emotional disturbance caused by their fighting," he adds.
