ALI MPHAKI
THOUSANDS of beneficiaries have not been receiving their maintenance payouts on time because of technical glitches within the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, which handles such funds.
Not receiving the funds is causing untold misery to the beneficiaries. One such beneficiary is an Orlando West man, Sello Mamphiri*, and his two children, who claim they have gone for six months without receiving a cent of their maintenance money from the Family Court in Joburg.
Mamphiri, 47, who was divorced by his wife in 1998 and won custody of the children and is unemployed, has been receiving R600 a month for his two children, Oupa,* 22, and Papi*, 18, from his ex-wife, who is a teacher. Although the unemployed Mamphiri complains that the R600 is well below the inflation rate, he reckons it’s better than nothing.
“And when the maintenance money does not come, you can imagine the hardship we go through. What is frustrating is that my former wife has a garnishee order for our maintenance, and the money is deducted from her salary every month. Clearly something is wrong,” said Mamphiri.
He said he had been receiving the money on the last day of the month since 1998, but the situation changed two years ago, when, in some instances, he was told to return after a week or during the month.
“I remember, in one instance, I had to borrow money from a neighbour to catch a taxi to the city to fetch the maintenance money, only to be told I should come back after two weeks. This caused problems for me as I did not have money. I had to ask money from strangers. I was never so embarrassed,” he said.
Mamphiri is renting a backroom in Orlando West, where pays R250 a month. He shares the room with his younger son, and when the chips are down, they rely on the goodwill of his relatives, and his widowed and pensioned mother.
Mamphiri’s sons are still at college, and it pains him when he cannot provide for them.
“Right now I was told the money I was supposed to get for the past six months, I will only get at the end of October. How am I supposed to survive and what must my children eat while we’re waiting for the money? This is so unfair.”
Earlier this year, The Star reported about a possible scam within the Justice Department where some unscrupulous employees were cashing in on maintenance money. Mamphiri suspects the same could be happening in his case.
The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union confirmed to The Star that they continue to receive a lot of complaints from beneficiaries not receiving their maintenance money.
The Star saw dozens of sworn statements from beneficiaries who were not receiving their maintenance money, some dating back to 2008. Some beneficiaries testified that their money was withdrawn without their knowledge.
Sources in the department said the problem of beneficiaries not receiving their maintenance money was rife.
Gauteng department head Emily Dhlamini blamed the situation on a number of factors, among them the late submission of schedules by various employers paying into the maintenance fund.
“We are doing our best to ensure that all beneficiaries are receiving their money on time. Hence we’re working with several banks to effect an electronic transfer system where the beneficiaries can easily access the money from their bank accounts,” she said.
When Themba Godi, the chairman of the standing committee on public accounts, paid a visit to several court buildings in Gauteng in June, he decried the fact that people of Soweto still had to go to the city centre to access their maintenance money.
* Not their real names