Pretoria - The mother of a 5-year-old girl has been given the green light to relocate with the child to Ireland, despite the father vehemently opposing this.
The parents, who were never married and broke off their relationship after their engagement, have been “at war” with each other over the child since they broke up.
The child has been given two psychological assessments, and the father asked for yet another to determine what is in her best interest.
The high court in Bloemfontein earlier gave the mother permission to take the child with her to Ireland, subject to the father still having contact with the child.
Unhappy with this decision, the father appealed the decision. He claimed the child’s mother is trying to alienate him from the child and insisted on another psychological assessment.
The high court, which heard the appeal, said the court record was replete with stories of parents who were at war with each other and nit-picking at every turn.
They are suspicious of each other and view each other’s actions through a magnifying glass.
It emerged the child was being followed with cameras and recording devices to capture her activities and conversations with either parent, with an intention to cast a spotlight on even the most insignificant faults of the other parent.
“They are both on a fault-finding mission and judging each other on trivial issues,” the court said.
The mother and her husband wanted to relocate to Ireland, saying her decision was motivated by crime rate and economic climate in South Africa. She believed her economic prospects were better in Ireland.
She resigned as a director of a software development company and sold her shares in it. She said she would earn a better salary in Ireland and believed Ireland would provide a stable, safe and stimulating environment conducive to their emotional and psychological well-being.
She added that the cost of groceries in Ireland were also more reasonable than in South Africa.
The court said that generally where, following a divorce, the custodian parent wished to emigrate, a court would not lightly refuse leave for the children to be taken out of the country, if the decision of the custodian parent was shown to be bona fide and reasonable.
“The courts will not dictate to parents how to run their lives after separation, in the spirit of maintaining the environment that children born out of relationships of estranged parents are familiar with.”
The court said the mere fact that children had to adjust to parents living apart was an indication that none of the parents should be shackled to one place at all cost, especially when that parent’s livelihood was at stake.
The court turned down the father’s appeal and also ruled that there was no need for the child to be assessed by a psychologist for the third time.
Pretoria News