A 39-year-old sangoma who was arrested for failing to pay maintenance for his five children claims that he is no longer able to practise as his ancestors are angry with his continuous arrests
Bongani Vilakati of Mphondla told Magistrate Nkosingiphile Maseko that he had to stop practising as a sangoma because his ancestors do not approve of him being in custody. He said that his calling was against imprisonment as it was not spiritually clean and that forced him to stop.
Vilakati failed to comply with a court order where he was supposed to pay at least E1 000 for his five children as maintenance.
He told the court that he did not have money as he was unemployed and no longer practising as a traditional healer. Vilakati has been failing to comply with the court order numerous times and he would not come to court every time he was ordered to do so.
This then led to the court keeping him in custody until the finalisation of his contempt of court case.
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He mentioned that he used to have a lot of money but things later changed and he became broke. “I even went outside the country to try and get help but I was not successful in that regard,” he said.
Vilakati asked the court to allow him to pay the maintenance according to his financial capabilities.
He said he was also worried with the pressure he was getting from the mother of the children every time she wanted money.
“She makes life hard for me because she will now and again demand money yet she knows that I am unemployed and I am still trying to make ends meet,” Vilakati explained.
He told the court that such behaviour from the mother of his children usually led some men to taking their own lives as it became increasingly unbearable for them to live under such circumstances.
He however was quick to mention that he was not planning to commit suicide, but was just bringing such to the court’s attention as one of the causes of the high rate of suicide cases among men in the country.
When he was asked why he was not coming to court whenever he was called to do so, Vilakati said he did not do that intentionally and apologised to the court for not complying.
He was then ordered to pay the E1 000 monthly maintenance fee as previously ordered and sentenced to three months in jail or a fine option of E300 for the contempt of court.
