- Minister of Justice (First Appellant) and Minister of Police (Second Appellant) v Masia 2021 (2) SACR 425 (GP)
Picture the following: On 6 August 2013, Mr Thabo Toka Mack Masia (hereinafter referred to as “Masia”) presented himself by appointment at the Atteridgeville Magistrates’ Court in Pretoria before a maintenance (“papgeld”) officer for an enquiry in terms of the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998 pertaining to the maintenance of his minor child. However, when the matter could not be resolved, the maintenance officer referred the matter to the maintenance court magistrate for adjudication (Afrikaans: “bereg-ting/beoordeling”).
Here Masia adduced evidence regarding his income and expenditure to enable the court to make an order regarding the maintenance payable in respect of the maintenance of his minor child. Subsequent to adducing evidence, Masia offered to pay maintenance in the amount of R300 per month.
The presiding magistrate, however, rejected this offer and then ordered the arrest and detention of Masia in the Atteridgeville Police Station cells for one night. Accordingly, Masia was arrested by W/O Letlape and detained to go and think clearly and thoroughly and to come up with a better offer.
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[This is only an extract of an article published in Pollex in Servamus: June 2022. If you are interested in reading the rest of the article, send an e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out what you need to do. Ed.]