A divorced father who failed to honour his child maintenance obligations and ignored court rulings is set to have his house sold in execution of his debt towards the child. A TimesLIVE report notes the Constitutional Court did not hear the merits of the man’s appeal‚ despite sitting on two occasions‚ because the man did not fully comply with its order made in August that he make payments towards the maintenance of the child.

In October last year the man also requested the child – now aged nine – to undergo a paternity test. The results showed he was the father.

In terms of the divorce order‚ the man was to pay R2 500 a month towards the maintenance of the child‚ and also pay half of the school fees‚ text books‚ extramural activities and uniforms and medical expenses. The man stopped paying maintenance towards the end of 2012 and his debt rose to R306 000 in 2014.

In a unanimous judgment penned by Acting Justice Jody Kollapen‚ he said it was not in the interests of justice for the man to ventilate his argument on the merits of the appeal. ‘Those interests will not be best served and will be undermined if the man is allowed to proceed and deal with the merits of the appeal in the absence of him remedying his conduct by complying with the August order. It will dilute the potency of the judicial authority and it will send a chilling message to litigants that orders of court may well be ignored with no consequence‚’ Kollapen said.

Full TimesLIVE report

S S v V V-S [2018] ZACC 5