A recent relocation judgment from the Johannesburg High Court. The applicant and respondent were involved in a relationship from 2009 to 2012 and have a daughter, who is now 12 years old. The applicant was offered a job in Kenya, but the respondent refused to give his consent for the child to emigrate. The child has always lived with the applicant and the applicant had been solely responsible for her care, while the respondent exercised contact ‘whenever he could.’ The respondent had never spent a school holiday with the child nor was he involved in her schooling, extramurals or social life. Since 2021, the respondent has not paid any maintenance besides R16 000 towards school fees.
Stating that it appeared that the respondent wanted to ‘place obstacles in the path of the progress of his former partner, ignoring the interest of the child,’ Mahomed AJ granted leave for the applicant to remove the child permanently and relocate to Kenya.