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IOL News
11 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
Cape Town father challenges R172,000 maintenance order, citing financial strain despite over R1 million bonus
A Cape Town father who receives over R1 million in bonuses challenged a ruling which ordered him to pay over R172,000 maintenance. Image: Pexels A Cape Town father who reportedly receives over R1 million in annual bonuses, has challenged the mother of his children and refused to produce his proof of income. The parents, who divorced in August 2010, have been at odds over financial responsibilities, as the mother continues to care for their children, aged 15 and 19. In February 2025, the maintenance court ordered the father to pay R172,188.63, which, amongst other things, will go towards the tuition cost of their older child. The money had to be paid before the end of March 2025. He was further ordered to pay over R20,000 towards the annual school fees of their second child. The total amount he had to pay was over R222,000. However, following the court's ruling, the father swiftly filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to suspend the maintenance order. He argued that the amount was nearly double his net salary, asserting his financial inability to honour such payments. The high court granted a temporary suspension of the order, while simultaneously requiring the mother to demonstrate why this suspension should not become permanent pending the appeal hearing. The mother took further legal action, serving both the father and his employer with a subpoena duces tecum. A subpoena duces tecum is a court order requiring a person to appear in court and produce specific documents or other physical evidence relevant to a legal case. According to the mother, the father misled the court in his application to suspend the maintenance order. She argued that the maintenance court granted the order in line with what was provided by the father in terms of his monthly salary as well as his annual bonus which amounts to over R1 million. She further argued that the father did not provide proof to support his claim that he cannot afford to pay maintenance. He also didn't provide any evidence to support that his financial position had changed for the worse since the order was made. Furthermore, she said the father lied in his affidavit as his IRP5 showed that he had received more than R1 million in March 2025. With this information, she sought to have the interim order suspending the maintenance order to be dismissed. Furthermore, the mother highlighted discrepancies in the father's affidavit, alleging that his IRP5 tax document, which revealed earnings exceeding R1 million as of March 2025, illustrates his capacity to pay the mandated maintenance while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading In response, the father approached the high court again, seeking to have the subpoena set aside. He claimed the documents requested by the mother were irrelevant and warned that such disclosures would cause irreparable harm. Presiding over the matter, Judge James Lekhuleni said the previous maintenance court order revealed that the mother battled to coerce the father to honour his maintenance obligations. He only provided financial support to the children when it suited him. He commented on the mother's diligent efforts, recognising that she was an unrepresented litigant trying to safeguard her children's welfare. The judge made it clear that the mother's attempts to compel the father to meet his obligations should not be viewed as an abuse of the legal system. Moreover, judge Lekhuleni emphasised that denying the subpoena would unduly harm the mother and the children, while the father would not suffer significant prejudice from its continuation. "As I see it, there is no prejudice that the applicant (father) will suffer if the subpoena is not set aside. While on the other hand, setting aside the subpoena will have deleterious effects on the first respondent (mother) and the children," he said. The father's application was dismissed. IOL News Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
Eyewitness News
04-06-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Some opposition parties in Gauteng Legislature remain critical of Maile's revised budget
JOHANNESBURG - Some opposition parties in the Gauteng Legislature remain critical of Finance MEC Lebogang Maile's revised provincial budget, even after adjustments were made. Maile retabled the budget on Wednesday to accommodate key changes in the province's projected revenue. An additional R886 million has been added, bringing the total projected revenue to R172 billion for the current financial year. ALSO READ: • Gauteng govt discloses that only 4 of 11 municipalities tabled funded budgets • Gauteng govt increases total projected revenue to R172bn in revised budget Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said Maile's budget doesn't reflect the true state of the province. "I think the priorities on the budget are skewed on the basis that you have R1.2 billion that is allocated for the provincial legislature and political parties while you still have about R240 million allocated towards housing. A sound decision would have been to allocate R1.2 billion to the housing and the R200 million to the political parties." The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Ruhan Robinson said that budget allocation could have been better. "All in all, many of our concerns stay exactly the same as with the previous budget. It's the enormous allocation of almost R5 billion to pay for the e-toll debt, which we still believe is not for the province to pay. We shouldn't be paying that money."
Eyewitness News
03-06-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Gauteng govt increases total projected revenue to R172bn in revised budget
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government has revised its budget, increasing its total projected revenue to R172 billion for the current financial the previous fiscal period, the province underspent by R1.8 public outcry, a portion of these unspent funds has been rolled over into the current financial MEC Lebogang Maile re-tabled the budget on Tuesday to reflect these adjustments to the province's annual financial the R1.8 billion unspent in the financial year that ended in March, R1.4 billion came from the provincial equitable share, with the remainder from conditional this amount, R886 million has been returned to the province's budget and reallocated to the relevant province has faced criticism for underspending its budget while service delivery in some areas remains gave himself a proverbial tap on the shoulder for ensuring that the unspent funds were rolled over."These additional resources were made possible through the provincial allocation of unspent funds, but we have also overcollected." The money will be reallocated to six provincial departments.
IOL News
03-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Universities seek contingency plans amid US funding cuts
Univeristy of Cape Town. Image: File UCT and Stellenbosch University are developing contingency plans to mitigate the severe impact of the Trump administration's cuts to US grant funding, which threaten billions in research support. According to UCT Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, Professor Jeff Murugan, without intervention, they stand to lose over R437 million in research funding in the next 12 months, and R1.67 billion over the period 2025–2027 if all 'currently contracted, active US federal-funded awards are terminated'. 'On 7 February 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order signalling the termination of aid and assistance to South Africa. As an immediate consequence, grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were discontinued. This abrupt action highlighted the vulnerability of UCT's US federally funded research. UCT currently holds a portfolio of 178 US federal funded awards comprising both direct awards to UCT and subawards from collaborating institutions in the US. Since February, UCT has received stop-work orders for sub-awardee grants funded by the NIH (National Institutes of Health ) which have halted 22 active projects (valued at R172 million). A further 93 multi-year projects have not received annual renewal notices (R265 million)," Murugan said last month. He said the funding cuts were significant and carried the potential of long-term consequences for researchers, patients and participants, the broader university community, as well as medical research and healthcare across the country. 'UCT's portfolio of US federal grants supports a variety of research projects, providing salaries and project running costs for hundreds of staff as well as stipends for over a hundred postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. A large-scale termination of US federal funding would thus have very significant consequences, directly impacting staff, fellows, students and the university's finances.' According to Murugan, the university was currently working to reduce reliance on US federal funding by identifying and securing alternative sources of support. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ On Monday, UCT spokesperson, Elijah Moholola said: 'UCT is in engagements with the appropriate stakeholders over the US federal funding matter. These engagements are ongoing, and some decisions are pending. In light of these ongoing discussions and pending outcomes, UCT wishes to not discuss the matter further at this time. The university has issued an update on the matter, and will issue further communication as and when there are new developments.' Stellenbosch University (SU) spokesperson, Martin Viljoen said: 'SU confirms that, like other research-intensive universities in South Africa, it is also affected by the geopolitical funding policy changes. The University is still in the process of finalising its contingency plans towards optimally mitigating the associated risks. As such the University is not in a position to provide further comment at this stage." The Department of Higher Education and Training did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. A Working Group is expected to provide the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande with a final report on the implications and impact of the recent withdrawal of funding by the US government from key research and development programmes in South Africa by June 30. Cape Times
