Durban Court Rejects Wife’s Bid to Jail Unemployed Husband Over Maintenance

A Durban woman has lost her bid to have her estranged husband jailed for failing to pay spousal maintenance, after the High Court ruled that her prolonged delays and his unemployment made contempt charges unjustified.

The couple married in 2014 and began divorce proceedings in 2019. In October that year, the husband was ordered to pay R7,500 per month, cover her medical aid, and finance her car instalments.

The arrears claim

The wife claimed her husband had not complied since November 2020, leaving arrears of more than R240,000. She asked the court to hold him in contempt and imprison him for 30 days.

However, her husband argued that he lost his job at Transnet in May 2021 and had since survived on odd jobs. He said his finances had collapsed while she had become financially independent.

Judge questions delays

Judge Robin George Mossop criticised the wife’s long delays:

• She waited two years after non-payment before filing the contempt application.

• She then waited another three years before bringing it for adjudication.

“Nearly five years have now run their course since the last payment,” Mossop said. “Any potential sympathy has dissipated through her own inaction.”

He added that scarce judicial resources should not be tied up in a matter the applicant herself had not treated urgently.

Ruling

The court accepted the husband’s explanation that he could not pay due to unemployment, noting the wife did not dispute his dismissal from Transnet.

Judge Mossop concluded that the husband was not in wilful contempt of the order and dismissed the application.

{Source: IOL}

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