Father in struggle with gran over child

AN irate Newlands East father has hauled Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to the Durban High Court in a bid to have his 11-year-old daughter brought back to him from a grandmother who has refused to do so since December 2015.

Police have failed to act on three court orders which empower them to return the child to the 49-year-old father, who is not being named to protect the child’s identity.

The grandmother, Lucia Manyosi, has refused to return the child after she went to visit the family in umlazi, southwest of Durban.

The father, an engineer, was assaulted by the Manyosi family in front of the police on one occasion when they tried to get the family to return his child.

Police this week confirmed a case of assault had been reported, but no arrests had been made.

The minister’s spokesperson, Sandile Ngidi, could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.

The custody battle with Manyosi began in 2015, soon after the death of his fiancée. The father-of-two said he initially had a good relationship with Manyosi, until she asked for his children’s birth certificates to claim for a burial policy for his fiancée.

“Igave her the copies because I trusted her. We were a united family and I was willing to give her everything that belonged to her daughter as a beneficiary,” said the father.

The children, an 11-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son, stayed with their father after their mother’s death.

The father said although the adults developed problems, he would always allow his children to visit their grandmother during the weekends and in school holidays.

“I always had to go and fight to get the kids back for school,” he said.

In 2015, Manyosi filed papers in the family court to gain full custody, but the court ruled in the father’s favour.

He said in December 2015, Manyosi requested that his that daughter visit her for Christmas, which he consented to, but the grandmother never returned the child.

“She refused to bring my daughter back, and she admitted her to another school without a progress report and transfer letter.

“I took the matter to court, but nothing has happened despite three court orders that ordered her to bring my daughter back,” he said.

He said the police had failed him in neglecting to enforce the court orders.

The latest order, dated February 21, 2017 ordered Manyosi to take her grand-daughter back to her father.

The SAPS was empowered by the court order to collect the child, should she fail to return her.

But police had failed to carry out their duties, said the father.

“We went to Manyosi’s home in umlazi Q section with the police.

“They told me they cannot use force when Manyosi refused to give us my daughter.

“I was attacked in front of the police, who told me to open a case,” he said, adding that he was attacked by his ex-fiancée’s siblings.

Provincial police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the police were investigating the case to determine why the service had not executed the court orders.

The father further claimed that Manyosi was bad-mouthing him to his daughter, influencing her to stay away from him.

Manyosi denied that she refused to give the child back.

She said her grand-daughter did not want to stay with her father.

“He knows what he did to her,” she said, inferring that he was verbally abusive to the child.

“I will not force my child to go where she does not want to be.

“He humiliated me in my home by bringing the police here,” said Manyosi.