I practice law here in Mbombela, in the province of Mpumalanga and although I am glad to say that I often manage to get things done, liaising with any public service institution also often reminds you that this is not Gauteng or the Western Cape.
Since May 2019 I have been involved in a High Court application that started out as an urgent application to stop the mother of a child from taking him out of school to move on what had first appeared to be a mere whim. When I have found that the mother actually had compelling reasons to move I have nonetheless asked for an order compelling the Family Advocate to investigate the matter.
Having obtained the Court order on the 29th of May I received my hard copy later on and served it on the Family Advocate on the 3rd of June.
The order equired of the Family Advocate to have a report ready by 1 August 2019. Ample time, don't you think?
Well... Given that the Family Advocate had to contact the parties, hold interviews with the parents and the child, MAYBE obtain reports from other parties- you would think that by 1 August the Family Advocate would at least have been able to report on what they have learnt from the parents.
Unfortunately- this is Mpumalanga....
Here I had to hear from both parents that during all of June nobody from the Family Advocate has contacted them.
Guess what- Toward the end of July I had at least received confirmation from Mr Rawlinson at the Family Advocate's offices that the file was allocated to Adv Maiwashe (Yes! I am mentioning names here! Sue me if you want!) Adv Maiwashe was requested to have an interim report ready by the 1st of August.
So- what happened then?
Well... on 7 August Adv Maiwashe denied having had knowledge of the file until only 3 days before then...
I had in he meantime tried to limit the damage done by means of case management with the new Form C in terms of our new High Court's practice directives. Toward the end of last week I have received the interim report. As these reports are, this report consisted of 4 pages. None of these pages contained a single word about what has been learnt from either parent or the child, though. What it did contain was a long-winded set of unconvincing excuses about why nothing had been done since June and- as if that was not enough- a contemptuous statement that an order from the Court shall never supercede their policies "and legislation".
As final insult to injury my client, the father, told me that he would rather just drop the entire matter as he feels the entire system is against him.
When one uses legislation and rules to cover your unwillingness to do his job the one thing that always stands out like a sore finger is that the institution for which such a person works then fails in fulfilling the mandate which is its reason for existing.
The Family Advocate's purpose is all too clear to many of us involved in family law matters. The High Court refuses to make any ruling about the care of or contact with a child if it has not received the Family Advocate's input. What we have learnt after a while is that where parties involved in a pending divorce can approach the Family Advocate to mediate any dispute pertaining to the well-being of a minor child they are also mandated to investigate and report about a minor child's best interests when they are ordered by the Court to do so- regardless of the fact that the matter is not a pending divorce.
Given all this the easiest thing for me to do is just withdrawing this application and letting the Family Advocate know that this file can now remain unattended forever.
It is not that simple, however...
This application is about the best interests of a minor child and cannot be swept under the rug like this.
Be assured- our Family Advocate shall be called to account for their conduct...
Regardless of what the employees of public service institutions tell you- poor service delivery is not something you should accept at any time!
We know the State has no competition. To make matters worse- in a province like ours even the political party that holds the majority here is not really threatened. That does not mean that we have to give up hope, though. It means that we have to be prepared to fight harder for justice here than we would have to anyplace else.
Don't lose hope. Help is available...
Since May 2019 I have been involved in a High Court application that started out as an urgent application to stop the mother of a child from taking him out of school to move on what had first appeared to be a mere whim. When I have found that the mother actually had compelling reasons to move I have nonetheless asked for an order compelling the Family Advocate to investigate the matter.
Having obtained the Court order on the 29th of May I received my hard copy later on and served it on the Family Advocate on the 3rd of June.
The order equired of the Family Advocate to have a report ready by 1 August 2019. Ample time, don't you think?
Well... Given that the Family Advocate had to contact the parties, hold interviews with the parents and the child, MAYBE obtain reports from other parties- you would think that by 1 August the Family Advocate would at least have been able to report on what they have learnt from the parents.
Unfortunately- this is Mpumalanga....
Here I had to hear from both parents that during all of June nobody from the Family Advocate has contacted them.
Guess what- Toward the end of July I had at least received confirmation from Mr Rawlinson at the Family Advocate's offices that the file was allocated to Adv Maiwashe (Yes! I am mentioning names here! Sue me if you want!) Adv Maiwashe was requested to have an interim report ready by the 1st of August.
So- what happened then?
Well... on 7 August Adv Maiwashe denied having had knowledge of the file until only 3 days before then...
I had in he meantime tried to limit the damage done by means of case management with the new Form C in terms of our new High Court's practice directives. Toward the end of last week I have received the interim report. As these reports are, this report consisted of 4 pages. None of these pages contained a single word about what has been learnt from either parent or the child, though. What it did contain was a long-winded set of unconvincing excuses about why nothing had been done since June and- as if that was not enough- a contemptuous statement that an order from the Court shall never supercede their policies "and legislation".
As final insult to injury my client, the father, told me that he would rather just drop the entire matter as he feels the entire system is against him.
When one uses legislation and rules to cover your unwillingness to do his job the one thing that always stands out like a sore finger is that the institution for which such a person works then fails in fulfilling the mandate which is its reason for existing.
The Family Advocate's purpose is all too clear to many of us involved in family law matters. The High Court refuses to make any ruling about the care of or contact with a child if it has not received the Family Advocate's input. What we have learnt after a while is that where parties involved in a pending divorce can approach the Family Advocate to mediate any dispute pertaining to the well-being of a minor child they are also mandated to investigate and report about a minor child's best interests when they are ordered by the Court to do so- regardless of the fact that the matter is not a pending divorce.
Given all this the easiest thing for me to do is just withdrawing this application and letting the Family Advocate know that this file can now remain unattended forever.
It is not that simple, however...
This application is about the best interests of a minor child and cannot be swept under the rug like this.
Be assured- our Family Advocate shall be called to account for their conduct...
Regardless of what the employees of public service institutions tell you- poor service delivery is not something you should accept at any time!
We know the State has no competition. To make matters worse- in a province like ours even the political party that holds the majority here is not really threatened. That does not mean that we have to give up hope, though. It means that we have to be prepared to fight harder for justice here than we would have to anyplace else.
Don't lose hope. Help is available...
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