By Melisa Munzvandi
A father who claims to earn $185 a month as an builder’s assistant has been ordered to pay $110 monthly maintenance for his three children.
The matter was heard before Provincial Magistrate Mbonisi Kaweni.
Esther Musindo approached the court seeking $350 for the upkeep of her three children from Sam Madzivira.
Musindo told the court that Madzivira is a builder, that they no longer live together and that he has not supported the children for two years. She said she works as a porter at the border and does not know his exact monthly income.
“He can’t offer 50 dollars. My child in Form 4 needs 1,400 dollars to clear a school debt,” she said.
Madzivira disputed her account of his employment.
“The work she claims I do is not it because she just saw me at a construction site. I am an” assistant constructor”. I earn 185 dollars monthly,” he said.
Asked if the children were his and whether he wanted them in school, he said he wanted them to attend school in the rural areas.
He told the court school fees were $30 per child, totaling $90, but he was offering $50.
In his ruling, Kaweni said the court had to balance the welfare of the children and the respondent’s earnings.
“These children are all school going and the respondent is able-bodied and the court therefore finds it just that he pays 110 dollars beginning the end of November and the end of each successive month until the children are 18 or able to sustain themselves,” he ruled.