Written by Patience Nyangove
Thursday, 24 September 2009
A Klein Windhoek man has accused Katutura Magistrate Court for allegedly discriminating against men who claim maintenance from their ex-wives.
Antony Daniel says his ex-wife Juliana Daniel nee Swartz was ordered on January 11 2007 to pay N$400 towards the upkeep of their three children who live with the father but until now she has been defaulting.
The law, Daniel says, is silent but if it was a man who had defaulted he would have long been arrested.
Daniel alleges that some prosecutors at Katutura Magistrate Court have accused him of being unprincipled by claiming maintenance from a woman.
“What bothers me more is the system. The case has been postponed several times and the judiciary is not doing anything to help me. A lot of men who have defaulted on their payments are in jail for that but she just gets reprimanded and gets her own way.
“The law should be fair to both men and women. Why should they be more special treatment for her when they are also men in jail who do not work and fail to pay maintenance?
“They have asked me why when I earn enough money, I want to get money from a woman. There is still much sexism at the courts of law. Men like me don’t get recognition. They are very perverse.”
Prosecutor General Olyvia Martha Imalwa said the law does not discriminate between men and women but treats them equally.
“The law doesn’t discriminate between men and women because all of them have an obligation to support their children. By law, that woman is obliged to pay maintenance for the up keep of her children. If she fails to pay prosecutors have to send summons and the case goes to trial,” she said.
Imalwa said no prosecutor or any one had the right to tell another person that he or she can’t claim maintenance on gender grounds because they was no such law. - Informante7@tgi.na
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