Judgment from the Durban High Court.
The subject of this urgent application is a minor child. The respondents are the child’s biological parents and the applicants are distant relatives of the child. The applicants argue inter alia for the child to reside with them from Sunday to Friday. The applicants claim that this arrangement has been in place since the child’s birth. However, per the Family Advocate’s report, this was the case only for about 4 years as the respondents worked away from home. The arrangement was terminated in December 2022. The Court held that the applicants have no basis to demand contact with the child, as “a citizen unrelated to a minor child has no right to maintain contact with that child contrary to the biological parent’s wishes”. The application was dismissed. The judge stated that the application was an abuse of the court’s process, and ordered that the applicants pay the respondent’s costs on scale C.
P.D and Another v A.R and Another (D779-2023) 2024 ZAKZDHC 27 (17 May 2024)