Pretoria - A Pretoria mother has turned to the high court over a surname. She and her daughter have different surnames -and the school where the child is enrolled has questioned whether she is in fact her mother.
The mother, who cannot be identified to protect her daughter, now 10, said in papers before court that the child was registered under her father's surname. The problem was that the father disappeared and the mother has no idea where he is.
The child is now in Grade 4, but the mother said the school was, from the beginning, hesitant to enrol the girl as their surnames differ.
The mother said she met the child's father in 2004 and the girl was born the following year from their relationship, which ended in 2007, and she never saw him again.
“I visited his family in Swaziland to find out where he is, but they also had no idea where he is.”
The father never paid maintenance for the child and never contacted her after he left.
“She does not know who her father is, as he left when she was 2 years old. I've raised her on my own. She was registered under her father's name at birth, as he had promised to marry me. But it never happened.
“When I enrolled her at school I had to explain that she was registered under her father's surname but that I had no idea where he was.”
The mother said the school initially did not want to enrol her daughter and accused her of not being the mother.
She consulted a social worker who investigated the birth. A magistrate at the Children’s Court ordered that the child's surname be changed to that of the mother but Home Affairs apparently refused to do so.
“They said I cannot do that without the father's consent and rejected the application. I was told I had to present a high court order before they would change her surname.”
The mother said it is in the best interests of the child to have her surname, as she is battling to even take out a funeral policy while her child has a different surname.
The social worker said it was clear that the woman is indeed the mother of the child. Also, that it is impossible for her to trace the father, as he is not a South African citizen.
“It is undoubtedly clear that this state of affairs is not in the best interests of the child,” the social worker said. The child's right to attend school is being negatively affected as the school now insists on seeing the father in person, before allowing the child to attend school.
The court ordered Home Affairs to register the child in the population register under her mother's name and gave consent for this to be done without the knowledge of the father.
Pretoria News