MAN’S US$20 MAINTENANCE OFFER THROWN OUT

A HARARE man, who offered to pay just US$20 a month towards the upkeep of his 15-year-old child, has seen his offer being REJECTED by a magistrate.

Instead, Lovemore Desha has been ordered to pay FIVE times that amount for the upkeep of his child.

He appeared at the Harare Civil Court after his child’s grandmother, Lucia Ndofani, dragged him to court seeking maintenance on behalf of the teenager.

Ndofani stepped in because the child’s mother is deaf and mute and was unable to handle the legal proceedings on her own.

She told the court that while she did not know Desha’s exact earnings, he needed to play his part in supporting his child and applied for US$240 per month.

However, Desha pleaded poverty and told the court he could only afford US$20 a month.

To support his case, he produced birth certificates for his wife and three other children, saying he had other family responsibilities to take care of.

But the court was not convinced.

The presiding magistrate reminded Desha that the responsibility to maintain a child rests with the biological parents and not the grandmother, who had stepped in to seek help for the teenager.

After weighing the child’s needs against Desha’s family obligations, the court ordered him to pay US$100 per month, or the equivalent in ZiG, towards the child’s upkeep.

The maintenance payments will start at the end of this month and will continue until the child turns 18.