(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU -THE Police officers would impregnate women, dump them and then refuse to take responsibility.
With no spousal support, life quickly unravels for the women. It's hell for them.
Now the women are fighting back. They have formed a WhatsApp group to share their problems and offer advice to each other.
There is a worrying concern over the statistics of women battling to get police officers to pay for the maintenance of their children.
“We (the women) coincidentally met at the Children's Court. We had gone to the court to seek a garnishing order,” 'Manthabiseng Matsepe, 36, said.
Since then, the women formed a WhatsApp group where they discuss their common problems.
Some of the police officers do not want to pay maintenance while others reject paternity.
Those who question the paternity of their children would usually seek a DNA paternity test, which is fairly expensive.
Others would be compelled to maintain the children after the courts issued a garnishing order.
Deputy police spokesperson, Sub-inspector 'Mareabetsoe Mofoka, said she is aware that many police officers are being forced to maintain their children.
All the women who spoke to this publication shared similar sentiments.
Matsepe said although the father of her child agreed to support his child after a garnishee order was issued, her major concern is knowing his exact pay day.
A garnishee order is a common form of enforcing a judgment debt against a creditor.
Matsepe said the court gave the father of her child alternative ways of paying the maintenance fee.
“The money is paid with Mpesa or Ecocash. But the bank is also an option,” she said.
In her case, a police officer (name withheld) fathered the child two years back but did not want to take responsibility.
Faced with such a scenario, she approached the Children's Court to seek a garnishee order to force him to take care of his child.
In accordance with the court arrangement, she was supposed to get the money at least two days before the police officer's pay day. That could be around the 18th or 19th of every month.
“That is what the court ordered but it never materialised,” she said.
She said she at times gets the money a week or two later and not at all in some instances. This continues to happen despite her tireless efforts to meet officials at the treasury department.
“Some of us went as far as meeting the Commissioner of Police himself,” she said, adding that“nothing has changed”.
Adding more salt to injury, people working at the police finance department have turned these desperate women into objects of ridicule.
“Every time we go to the salary department, the staff members in that office laugh at us. They call us prostitutes who are after police officers for money,” she said.
“But the police officers are not doing us any favours because they are bound by the law to maintain their children,” a visibly irate Matsepe said.
Matsepe claimed that the payslips of the police officers usually show that money would have been deducted from their salaries.
“We do not know how they explain this to their wives but it is part of the deductions reflecting on the payslips,” she said.
With teary eyes, Matsepe said the money is meant to support the children, including paying for their school fees.
Many of the women say they are trapped in financial difficulties as they single-handedly raise the“fatherless” children.
“We have to incur expenses as we wait for the money, and sometimes the money doesn't even come. It is worrisome because this is happening almost every month,” said Matsepe.
Matsepe said the situation is heart-breaking for most of the women who are jobless and rely solely on the money they are supposed to get from the fathers.
“The pain is less for those who work,” she said.
The maintenance fee varies depending on the rank of the police officers.
Matsepe said the fees range from M500 to M2 000.
“This money is adjusted every year,” she said.
Another woman, 'Malineo Khasake, 33, who lives in Mafeteng shared her story over maintenance fees.
She said her daughter is three years old. She said the father of her child, who is a police officer, took the child to his home to perform some rituals.
Then that police officer broke up with his wife.
“I do not know what led to the collapse of the marriage,” Khasake said.
Khasake said relations were cordial between her and the policeman before he was transferred to Leribe.
Once in Leribe, the policeman“completely forgot” about his responsibilities, Khasake said.
The interaction between them suffered because she could not follow him to Leribe because she is busy at her own workplace.
“I had no option but to take the matter to court,” she said.
Khasake said the court ordered the policeman to support the child and he accepted the court's decision, agreeing to take care of the child's food and clothing expenses.
“He used to pay with Mpesa or Ecocash,” she said.
The payments then became erratic and he would give her“a litany of baseless excuses”.
Khasake returned to the court seeking a new arrangement that would force the man to pay through a bank stop order.
She said the man has married another wife in Leribe, making her life even more difficult.
'Malikenkeng Mohlapiso, 41, is a mother of two children aged 9 and 15.
She works at a hotel in Mafeteng and has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which has devastated the hospitality sector.
Telling her story, Mohlapiso said she got married to a police officer in 2005.
In 2009, her husband fell in love with a colleague and moved out of their marital home, leaving her struggling.
“I had just had our second child when he left. So life became tough as I had to take care of the children as the single parent,” she said.
Mohlapiso approached the Children's Court for intervention. She said her husband informed the court that he had no interest in coming back to stay with the family.
The court ordered him to maintain his children nonetheless.
The problem, she said, was that the money comes late. Mohlapiso said she then approached the Commissioner of Police Holomo Molibeli to demand answers.
“At the time, it was alleged that the bank they were using was the one causing problems. But when I exerted pressure to establish the cause of the delays, it was discovered that the salary section of the police was to blame,” she said.
Sub-Inspector Mofoka said the delays are caused by lengthy procedures.
She said after the money has been deducted from the police officers, the salary section has to ensure that the deducted money goes to the beneficiaries.
And from the Ministry of Police, the money goes to the Ministry of Finance.
From there, the money goes to the Central Bank where it will then be deposited to different banks where it goes to the beneficiaries.
“It has to be checked at every stage,” Sub-Inspector Mofoka said.
A paper published in August by Africa Press Net notes that lack of child maintenance has become prevalent in Lesotho to the extent that child maintenance orders have become like toothless bulldogs.
“The Children's Court in its capacity has been awarding countless maintenance orders which are unfortunately not being honored and bringing those in violation of the law to account is a challenge,” the paper said.
“Who is failing the best interest of a child? Is it the lawmakers, the courts or law enforcement officers?”
The court was instituted to protect the welfare of children.
This encompasses the maintenance of a child regardless of whether the parents live together or not.
However, the paper notes that an alarming number of parents in Lesotho choose to defy maintenance orders.
It quotes Senior Resident Magistrate 'Manapo Motebele as saying“the Children's Court has no law”.
“The issue of child maintenance is distressing. This is evident in the way cases of maintenance are being handled. White collar cases are easier to resolve, because if the accused individual evades an order to maintain a child, a garnishee can be served to their employer as a means of enforcing maintenance,” she is quoted as saying.
The human resource officer at the police, Inspector Thabiso Molefi, is quoted saying the human resources department has the authority to see to it that maintenance is paid in cases involving the police, soldiers or civil servants once a court order is issued.
He said failure to honor the court order by an accused person gives the plaintiff the right to attain a garnishee order.
The Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) of the police is quoted in the paper saying that it does not interfere in any maintenance disputes“because maintenance in their opinion is a civil affair”.
The unit claims that there are no proper structures in law enforcement that allow it to interfere in maintenance matters.
“Shockingly, the element of contempt does not encourage the unit to interpose in such cases. It is evident that there are no laws regulating contempt as a crime in maintenance cases.”
NB: some names have been changed
Majara Molupe
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