Pretoria - A former South African football star and his high-profile ex-wife are at each other’s throats again.
No strangers to the courts and at times quite vocal about their dislike of each other, they are this time locked in a custody battle over their teenage son.
The couple have not be named to protect the identity of their minor child.
Allegations of drunken debauchery and drug abuse are flying between them, but both parents said they are the most suitable to look after the boy, aged 15.
The former football star, who lives in Pretoria, is heading to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, next month to try and obtain an urgent order for his son to be placed in his care.
The boy is living with his father at present after the former footballer allegedly arranged for him to travel to Pretoria without his mother’s knowledge.
The socialite ex-wife, who lives in the Cape, reported her husband to the police and she will also next month ask the court, in a counter application, to hold him in contempt of court. She said in court papers that he is not adhering to an order issued during their acrimonious divorce that she has custody over their youngest son.
The footballer is adamant that he is the better parent and said his son is fed up with living with his mother. The boy came to visit his father during the June/July school holidays this year and never returned to his mother.
However, he went to visit her during last month’s school holidays.
The father said his ex-wife subsequently refused to send the child back to Pretoria.
Without her knowledge he “assisted” the child to return to him, but he insisted that he acted in the best interests of his son.
The mother reported her son missing and opened a case against her former husband for contravening a court order.
“Up to date I was successful in convincing the police not to arrest me, but I know she contacted three different police stations to lay a charge against me.
“I know she will not rest until I am arrested.”
The man said his only concern is that his child must be safe, as he accused his former wife of “forcing” the child to smoke dagga.
He was also upset as she allowed him to get a tattoo during the past holidays .
According to the man, the woman is not a role model for his child, citing among others, that “dagga was freely available in her house.”
She responded that she may have made mistakes in the past, but said she had changed her ways.
“I have been clean for four years and I am proud of myself for being an example to my boys (the couple have another son aged 18),” she added.
“There is nothing but love and care in my house,” she said.
She accused her ex-husband of brainwashing the child and said he promised to assist the teenager with his “rap” career and said he would arrange for him to record an album.
The mother included her drug test results in her application to prove she is drug free.
She also invited the authorities to test her any time of the day or night. The woman extended this invitation to her former husband.
She is not the drunk and drug abuser she is made out to be, she stated in court papers, but said her ex-husband was indeed that. She claimed that during a recent visit by him in the Cape, he, in a state of intoxication, flashed (exposed) himself to others.
The only issue the two did agree on, according to their respective court papers, was that the office of the family advocate should investigate both their circumstances to decide who was, in fact, the best parent.
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Pretoria News