Child support defaulters to be blacklisted

A bill proposing the blacklisting of child maintenance defaulters is one step closer to becoming law.

This is after the National Assembly yesterday adopted the Maintenance Amendment Bill which proposed that men who could afford to support their children, but would not, could risk their creditworthiness.

“If a person is in default of paying maintenance … if they default, their personal details must be submitted to a credit bureau and this effectively prevents maintenance defaulters from continuing to receive credit while they owe maintenance,” said Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery.

“This, we believe, sends out a clear message to maintenance defaulters that their failure to support their dependants is indefensible,” he said.

A clause on the blacklisting of defaulters was removed from the bill earlier this year after ANC MPs said it could have unintended consequences, but it was included in the proposed law again when parliament’s justice committee approved it in May.

The Economic Freedom Fighters [ EFF] has come out against the bill. It said it would negatively affect people who could not afford to pay child maintenance, and therefore it would also affect the dependants of the defaulters.

Jeffery, however, dismissed the EFF’s concerns, saying the blacklisting clause only affected men who could afford to support their children.

“If a person has had a maintenance order against them and they then lose their job, they must go back to court and inform the court.

“It won’t affect someone who can’t pay maintenance,” Jeffery said.

“It will affect those people who would rather pay for their DStv subscription than support their child.” The bill now goes to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence. –