Regional Head of Department of Justice in the Western Cape Hishaam Mohamed Photo: Matthew Jordaan Regional Head of Department of Justice in the Western Cape Hishaam Mohamed Photo: Matthew Jordaan
A national Justice Department task team is seeking to extend across South Africa a campaign to help struggling single parents gain maintenance payments.
They successfully traced hundreds of maintenance beneficiaries and defaulters in just three months in the Western Cape.
At the start of Operation Isondlo on September 15, the Justice Department, with the help of SAPS officers and the Department of Home Affairs, had a list of 890 maintenance defaulters and 150 maintenance beneficiaries who had to be traced.
Details of a national operation are being formulated.
As at December 10, officials had managed to arrest 642 maintenance defaulters and trace 138 maintenance beneficiaries who were unaware of money ready for collection at their local courts.
The campaign was supposed to have been concluded after the last operation was conducted on Saturday. However, the targets were not yet reached. But yesterday, the Justice Department’s regional head, Hishaam Mohamed, said December 10 was simply “an end of a managed campaign for a short period and this was definitely not the end”.
“Our target has not been reached but now, especially over the festive season, we will not back down,” he said.
Bishop Lavis resident Eleanor Swarts, who has been battling to receive maintenance for her grandchild for three years, said she was thankful for the help from the Justice Department.
“I’ve been in and out of court so many times. I lost all hope and faith that I would receive financial support for my grandchild but, Operation Isondlo has given me new hope,” she said.
The aim of the campaign was to create public awareness about issues of maintenance and domestic violence. - Cape Times
lauren.isaacs@inl.co.za