School teacher ordered to pay P350 in child maintenance
A teacher at Digawana Junior Secondary School, Ishmael Lebani, was heavily criticised in court for taking a loan to support his parents' wedding while he failed to financially support his own child.
Lebani was dragged before Kanye Magistrate Court on Monday by his unemployed baby mama, Keitumetse Koshwane, both hailin from Moshupa village. They appeared before Magistrate Keneilwe Kgwadi.
Given a chance to speak, Koshwane, who initially failed to remember her child's name until saved by documents she brought before the court, told the court she wanted her ex-boyfriend to support the child with P800.00 monthly. She stated that the money would assist her in taking care of their seven-month-old baby, which the father abandoned at three months old.
Lebani told the court that the P800.00 child maintenance demand was too high and he could not afford to pay it, as he only earns P1300.00. Lebani said he has two other children under his care, one of whom he supports with P250.00 and the other for whom he pays P350.00 for a taxi to school. Additionally, he spends P300 on groceries and P200 on toiletries, leaving him with only P200.00.
His payslip was presented before the presiding magistrate and also exhibited to his ex-girlfriend Koshwane. Assessing the payslip, the magistrate asked Lebani about his ongoing loan. He answered that he took it to help his parents get married, for which he was highly criticised, as he now fails to support his own child.
The teacher was ordered to pay a monthly amount of P350.00 for child maintenance, which he was ordered to pay monthly. However, the ex-girlfriend was not satisfied with the ruling, as anger riddled her face. She even asked the court to inform the boyfriend's family about the child, but the presiding magistrate stated that it is her family’s, not the court's responsibility.
The ex-boyfriend hurriedly left the court without speaking to his ex-girlfriend, visibly agitated. In an interview with The Midweek Sun after the ruling, Koshwane expressed her dissatisfaction with the verdict, emphasizing the impossibility of raising a child with only P350.00.
She disclosed that her ex-boyfriend had a history of infidelity, which became evident when she discovered she was carrying his child, only to learn later that he had another girlfriend he made pregnant.
"He even resorted to traditional medicine for this case, which explains why I struggled to recall my child's name in court," she lamented. She revealed that they had been in a relationship for four years and welcomed their child last year.
She revealed that when their baby was three months old, she visited the ex-boyfriend in Digawana and caught him red-handed with another woman.