Father protests for access to his child

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SONY DSC

Published Aug 29, 2014

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Johannesburg - It is an illegal protest, yet a 30-year-old father from Midrand is willing to take the risk and protest outside his baby’s mother’s workplace every day.

His demands? To be granted access to spend time with his 11-month-old baby girl.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, has been protesting since Monday morning outside his ex-wife’s workplace.

He stands outside the gate of the well-known company with a placard that reads: “PLEASE tell (the ex-wife’s name) to stop denying me access to our daughter. Every child needs a father.”

The man says he has seen his child once this year, in June. This was organised through his lawyers and the woman’s legal team after she had denied him access on several occasions.

“What I am doing might be wrong, but I have no choice,” he said. “I’ve lost so much time requesting to see my daughter, yet my e-mails and phone calls to make these arrangements are ignored. Sometimes when I called and asked to visit, she simply said ‘No’ and hung up.”

The man said he was forced to take the legal route because the woman filed a protection order against him in March.

“On the protection order she claims I’m intimidating and harassing her, and that this is affecting our baby.

“How can she say that?” asked the man.

He said trouble started in November when the woman ended their relationship.

“She just ignored me. She failed to return my calls, messages and e-mails. I sometimes feel all she wanted from me was a child because that’s what she kept saying she wanted.”

She insisted on having a child before marriage. He paid lobolo and all the medical fees related to the pregnancy and birth but she told people they never married, the man said.

 

“This is my child, my mother’s first grandchild, yet my family and I have no access to her. It’s heartbreaking.”

 

The Star tried to contact the baby’s mother but she did not respond to an SMS or voicemail messages.

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The Star

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