30/03/2020
We’ve had several queries from our clients regarding if and how contact rights between parents and children should be exercised during the lock-down period.
The short answer is that children and adults may not travel during the lock-down period for parents to exercise their contact rights with their children. The Regulations to the Disaster Management Act, 2002 sets out very specific reasons for which people may leave their homes during the lock-down period and the exercising of contact rights between parents and minor children is not one of those reasons. As such neither parents, nor children may leave their homes for this purpose.
At least one urgent application has been launched to relax the regulations to allow the applicant to travel so that he could attend a close family member’s funeral and although the court expressed its sympathy for the Applicant, the application was dismissed. The courts have thus already indicated that they will not be inclined to allow the relaxation of the conditions under which people may leave their residences and in all likelihood the courts will continue to strictly enforce the terms of the lock-down.
The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, also communicated during a recent media briefing that children should remain where they were staying when the lock-down came into effect and that the movement of children during this time is prohibited.
We have to remember the regulations were enacted to prevent the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic in South Africa, but these regulations will only manage to do that if all South Africans adhere to it.
There are however a vast number of ways in which contact rights can be exercised and we encourage fathers and mothers to find creative ways to accommodate one another so that the children can have as much contact as possible and as they desire with their non-custodial parent during this time. There are many ways in which children can exercise contact with their parents, such as telephonic contact, video messages sent via "WhatsApp" or other mobile phone applications and video-calling (such as Facebook Messenger or "WhatsApp" to name but 2 examples). Use your creativity and also reassure your children that these are temporary measures to ensure their and everyone else’s safety.
We wish you all well and remember to stay at home, stay safe and to wash your hands regularly.
