SOME South African parents, particularly mothers, are forced to approach the courts seeking recourse where a lack of child support sums up to a dreadful financial nightmare rendering them vulnerable.

This is worsened for some, especially women, by a system which has been described as being in “crisis”, considering the large number “of child maintenance applications that remain incomplete”.

In a statement dated June 27, 2025, the EFF expressed outrage at the data from the Department of Justice that as of February 2024, 170 000 child maintenance applications were incomplete.

“This represents the nature of the backlogs that exist with the maintenance system, as well as a huge denial of justice. These figures represent tens of thousands of children being deprived of their legal right to financial support and stability from both parents. They represent guardians who are forced to navigate a hostile, bureaucratic, and indifferent court system, often without any assistance, while trying to provide for their children on their own,” the statement read.

Other research, in particular a study which focused on the Eastern Cape, found that many of the women interviewed by researchers “expressed anguish and frustration” at the country’s justice system, which they described as being “patriarchal and biased towards men”.

In its conclusion and recommendations, it is stated that this study revealed that the subjects of the research faced “challenges in enforcing maintenance orders due to systemic inefficiencies”.

The study recommended that “more robust enforcement strategies” should be implemented, which could include “garnishing wages, conducting regular audits of maintenance payments, and imposing stricter penalties for non-compliance”.

“Policymakers should explore simplifying the legal process and offering comprehensive support services, which could empower more women to pursue and enforce maintenance claims,” reads a part of the recommendation.

Meanwhile, in recent years, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Maintenance Online Listing of Defaulters with the Consumer Profile Bureau and Social Justice Foundation to ensure that maintenance defaulters, who have enforcement orders against them, are flagged when trying to apply for new credit.

So, is turning to the courts always the best option for mothers?

Maybe not, says family law expert Susan Abro, founder of Susan Abro Attorney, who said an agreement between the parents “is often quicker and less stressful”.

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“However, court intervention is necessary where there is non-cooperation or dispute,” said Abro.

Maintenance agreements entered into privately or through some mediation “can be made an order of the court for enforceability”, advised Abro.

An interesting fact about child maintenance is that legally children are required to be maintained from birth “because maintenance is a legal obligation owed to a child who has been born and has legal status”.

Regarding pregnancy-related maintenance, such medical costs, prenatal care, among others, the court may consider these expenses despite there being “no standalone claim in the same way as post-birth maintenance”.

“In practice, courts may take pregnancy and birth-related costs into account when making maintenance orders,” said Abro.

In an instance where the parents separate before the pregnancy is known by any of the parties, “the mother can approach the maintenance court after the child is born to establish paternity and seek maintenance”, said Abro.

If the paternity is disputed by the father, in the latter example cited, the court can order that a DNA test is conducted to determine paternity.

“Once confirmed, the father is legally obliged to pay maintenance and may also be ordered to contribute to reasonable past expenses, including those related to the pregnancy,” said Abro.

Abro noted that the country’s courts, including maintenance ones, “are overburdened”, which sometimes results in delays.

Delays, however, are just some of the challenges mothers endure, according to Abro, as these may include “non-disclosure of income by the father, enforcement of maintenance orders, and emotional stress”.

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