New system to improve child maintenance enforcement

Payment services at magistrates’ courts across the country were temporarily suspended until November 4 due to a system upgrade.

This upgrade is part of a new development that will enable credit bureaus to access maintenance default data.

The system is intended to improve the enforcement of child maintenance orders.

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembisile Simelane, signed the historic memorandum of understanding (MOU) on maintenance online listing of defaulters with the Consumer Profile Bureau and Social Justice Foundation on November 1.

According to the department spokesperson, Tsekiso Machike, the signing of this MOU marks the commencement of a ground-breaking epoch during which the department will develop a system to facilitate the forwarding of the details of persons against whom child maintenance enforcement orders have been granted (maintenance defaulters) to the National Credit Regulator.

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It will in turn make this information available to all other credit bureaus and credit providers.

“This will result in child maintenance defaulters’ ability to get access to credit being impacted upon and is aimed at implementing the provisions of the Maintenance Act, 1998 (Act No. 99 of 1998) (the Act) as amended.

“Both the civil and the criminal provisions of the Act require the forwarding of personal details of maintenance defaulters and those with enforcement order judgements against them to credit bureaus and credit providers,” Machike explained.

“This partnership will not only benefit the implementation of the Act but will benefit the broader orders made within the family law environment.

“The MOU follows the resolutions of the National Maintenance Working session held in June last year, which identified a critical need for partnerships and collaboration in addressing the challenges about the enforcement of child maintenance orders.”

He said this partnership is critical as it will create a system that will not only create a MOLD register but it will also streamline the process to ensure that critical information is in line with the provisions of the Act and the Children’s Act, 2005 as amended.

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