Mandla Mandela's wages to be docked
PARLIAMENT will have to play nanny with Mandla Mandela's salary to ensure his estranged first wife receives her monthly allowance.
Mandela, the grandson of former president Nelson Mandela, is an ANC Member of Parliament. For the past year he has ignored a court order instructing him to pay Tando Mabunu-Mandela maintenance of R12500 a month. The two are in the process of divorce.
The maintenance order was handed down in May 2011, and to date, he has failed to pay up.
As a result, Mabunu-Mandela has had to approach the court every three months to fight for her cash. A writ would be issued, Mandela's goods would be attached and she would be paid out for the outstanding three months.
Yesterday, the maintenance section of the Mthatha Magistrate's Court placed a garnishee on Mandela's parliamentary salary. This means Mandela's bosses will now have to deduct the R12500 before paying out his salary.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luxolo Tyali confirmed that the money would be deducted from Mandela's parliamentary salary.
Mabunu-Mandela had opened criminal charges with the Bityi police station in July this year after she claimed her husband had once again skipped out on payments. But this time the sheriff was unable to attach his goods.
Mandela's bank accounts had allegedly been emptied and the sheriff no longer had access to his funds.
Mandela was not present in court and the court issued a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear.
Mandela is currently out of the country. He was a judge for the Miss World pageant held in China at the weekend. But the maintenance investigator appointed to the case said Mandela was informed a month ago that he needed to appear in court for failure to pay maintenance.
In an affidavit before court, Agrippa Gameni Mvelase claimed Mandela refused to accept the summons when the Department of Justice tracked him down last month.
Mvelase said he was forced to give a copy of the summons to whom he presumed was a family member. "I told the man it is important that the respondent (Mandela) appear in court on the date in question," Mvelase said.
Yesterday, Tyali confirmed that due to speculation regarding the relationship between Mandela and the prosecuting advocate appointed to the case, a different prosecutor had been appointed to handle the matter.
"We had originally felt that advocate (Nolita) Madiba, who is the senior public prosecutor for maintenance, would be better equipped to handle the matter due to her vast experience. But she said if it was going to cause an upset with the public because of her clan name, the case would be given to Mrs Katelo," Tyali explained.