A 13-YEAR-OLD boy from Harare spent the whole of the school year at home because both his parents claimed to be too busy to enrol him for Form 1.
The matter came to light yesterday before magistrate Ayanda Dlamini at the Harare Civil Court in a maintenance case in which the boy’s parents accused each other of failing to send him to school.
Chipo Maramisa was demanding an upward variation from her ex-husband, Patrick Guta, from US$50 to US$150 for the upkeep of their teenage son.
“I cannot go around looking for a place to enrol the child because most schools require money upfront for the process to be faster,” she submitted.
“That is why I want him to be giving us US$150 for the upkeep of our son.”
Maramisa said she failed to raise the required money to enrol their child from her side hustles.
“I would love to see my son going to school because he is a boy and can be exposed to illegal activities as long as he is at home, so I tried to hustle for the money on my own, but I failed to get the money needed for his fees.”
Guta said he could only pay US$50 because he had not received a salary increment. He accused Maramisa of being negligent towards the minor’s education.
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“I told her to look for a place because I will be busy at work, but she said she was also busy,” he submitted.
He added that he was taking care of three other minor children.
The court heard that Guta had failed to honour the maintenance obligation for several months, leading to his arrest.
Dlamini ordered Guta to pay US$70 as well school fees for his minor child.
