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In a potentially groundbreaking case for the
rights of grandparents, a Mpumalanga couple are asking the Pretoria High
Court to grant them access to their five-month-old granddaughter.
The baby's mother is in Grade 12 and the child's
father (the couple's son) died in a motorbike accident a few days before
the child's birth. He was 19.
The Carolina couple (who are not identified to
protect the mother and baby) are desperate to spend some time with their
only grandchild.
Although grandparents do not have an automatic
right of access to their grandchildren, the couple claim it is in the
girl's best interest to get to know her family.
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Mother and
baby often stayed with them, until the end of November last year
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They are basing
their case on the constitution and on the Children's Act. The constitution
states that a child's best interest is of paramount importance in any
matter that concerns the child. The object of the Children's Act, the court
was told, was to preserve and strengthen families.
Judge Willie Seriti was told that if it was in the
best interests of a child, the child's family must be given the opportunity
to express their views in any matter concerning the child. It was also
argued that there was a need for the child to maintain a connection with
her family and extended family.
The grandparents said they were bringing this
application on behalf of their granddaughter, as it would be in her best
interests to know them. They said the baby has a constitutional and
statutory right to be protected and to be allowed to know, bond and remain
in contact with her paternal grandparents and extended family.
Their son and the child's mother met in 2006. On
October 12 last year the baby was born.
Their relationship with the child's mother was
always good.
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The
grandfather had made "unreasonable demands and insisted on taking
the baby"
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She lived with her
grandmother (the child's great-grandmother). The couple said mother and
baby often stayed with them, until the end of November last year, when
things changed.
The mother accused the grandparents of "having
a hidden agenda to adopt her baby".
Apart from allowing them to see the child once in
the past month, the mother refused them any access. They said they had no
agenda to adopt the child, they only wanted to see the child occasionally.
The mother stated that her love for the child's
father was "mere puppy love" and claimed that the father wanted
her to have an abortion.
His parents however, told him to take
responsibility for what he had done. She said their relationship was a sham
after that.
She said she and the child's grandparents had a
good relationship until the grandfather had made "unreasonable demands
and insisted on taking the baby".
The mother said she could not see how allowing the
grandparents to have access to the baby could be in the child's best
interests.
Carina du Toit of the Centre for Child Law at the
University of Pretoria, said a court would have to determine whether it was
in the best interest of the child to have access to the grandparents.
While the courts have expressed in several
judgements that grandparents do not have an automatic right in this regard,
the new Children's Act favours such contact if it is in the best interest
of the child.
- This article was
originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on April 02, 2008
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