The road to a balanced Children’s Act still long, say NPOs

Founder of i4118 Foundation Gavin Meyers says that in his opinion, the Child Act is not gender-biased.

“But it is very subjective and the problem is it opens the door for the biological father to walk away,” he said.

“The Act does not force the biological father to take responsibility at all.”

He said that if the mothers had an attitude the fathers simply walked away, it created negative consequences for society as a whole.

“Woman’s rights and the feminist movement has not helped.

“We have not brought in a balance,” Meyers said. Fathers4Justice founder Gary da Silva disagreed, saying the Act was biased.

“The current document, the Children Bill with the amendments as documented in 2022-21 in its current format, is highly prejudicial towards the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community and racist towards both black mothers and fathers.

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“Black parents have more legal and financial responsibility to fulfil than those of their coloured, white and Indian brothers and sisters,” Da Silva said.

Solomon Mondlane, a member of a group known as the Hunger Strike Fathers, said the road to a balanced Children’s Act was still long.

“No one can decide if a father qualifies to be a full father or not. It should not require certification, it must be automatic. If paternity is disputed, a DNA test should be the only consideration to settle the dispute,” Mondlane said.

He said the idea that fathers must qualify has to be stripped out, or gender discrimination was continuing.

“The term parental responsibility is misleading also.

The legal system interprets that as ‘fathers must pay’. It does not define parenting adequately.”

Mondlane added that fatherhood included nurturing, guiding and giving emotional support. “If that is not defined it leaves the door open to the selective definition of responsibility.”

Castro Musinyali, chair of We Are Fathers, We Are Parents Forum, said the forum appreciated the intervention of the Commission for Gender Equality.

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“Fathers are exonerated for all their cries over the years.

“The truth has come out and we await to see what changes the Children’s Amendment Bill shall bring.”

Musinyali said fathers continued to be reduced to ATMs, whose responsibility it was to provide finance to raise children and not be present physically.

“Women are not held responsible for preventing fathers from raising their children. Fathers spend fortunes fighting the biased child law system and still they are not recognised.”