A. Increasing income
1. Since the terms 'White', 'Coloured', 'Asian' (or 'Indian') and 'Black' are used in all official data and literature, discussed
throughout this paper, the need for clarity has obliged us to use the same terminology.
2. The wife's domicile automatically follows the domicile of the husband, although if she is the plaintiff and has been ordinarily resident in the Black Divorce Court's area of jurisdiction for at least a year prior to the divorce, she may sue for divorce in the South African Black Divorce Court.
3. Among lower income sections of the population there is also a very high illegitimacy rate, in the sense of children resulting from unions which are not regarded as marriages under any system of
4.
law. These children are in many respects in much the same position as those of secondary families, and their situation should also be studied. However, the problems of obtaining data on such children and their mothers are even greater than on secondary fami lies. There is also, in the case of some customary unions, a problem in defining whether a union is in existence or not.
(Burman, 1984).
Black women without residence rights cannot obtain factory work, and factory quotas for Blacks further circumscribe this job possibility.
5. They are not excluded from the Machinery and Occupational Safety Act, No.6 of 1983.
6. A section 10(1){c) pass gives residence rights only to the wife, unmarried daughter, or minor son of a section 10(1)(a) or 10(1)(b) permit holder who is lawfully residing with him or her (Section 10
r
I (
I,
7.
of the Black (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act of 1945). Section 10(1)(a) residence rights are available only to a Black who has resided continuously in a prescribed (urban) area since birth.
Section 10( I) (b) residence rights are available only to a Black who has worked continuously in such an area for one employer for at
least ten years or lawfully resided continuously in such an area for at least fifteen years.
Only 3-4 cases in which the plaintiff is not represented come before the Motions Court each year (telephone interview, Supreme Court official,9 !oBr.1984).
8. Under customary law settlements, very young children were sometimes in fact left with the mother for a few years, until considered old enough to begin to do chores for the father'~ family.
9. It is payable by a child's guardian who claims custody of the child after it has been brought up or maintained by another, irrespective
of the length of time for which it was kept or the actual expenditure incurred in keeping it (Bekker and Coertze,1982:241).
10 The onus is on the woman to try to make the father pay first, as interview data indicated that the State is reluctant to give a grant where the father is traceable, even if he is indigent or earning too little to contribute ·much.
11. There is, however, contradictory evidence (telephone interview, Departmental official,6 Mar.1984;telephone interview, social worker, 10 !oBr.1984) as to whether a Black woman whose husband has disappeared first has to go to the !oBintenance Court to lay a non-support charge (as do White, Coloured, and Asian women) or whether she is referred direct to the police, who then lOOK for him.
12. Evidence on how long maintenance grants for BlaCKs taKe to be processed is contradictory (they all have to go onto the central computer in Pretoria), but depending on which official, social worker or recipient was the informant, the time cited varies from between about two months to 'never'. It would seem on balance that many grants take approximately twelve months to be processed.
13. Otherwise, the full amount, which is based on the municipal va lua -tion, is assessed. If there is a mortgage bond on the property, or any amount owing, then this will also be deducted from the muni-cipal valuation before the property is assessed
(SANCA,Nov.1983).
14. If a Black man can show within a few weeks that he has depen- dante, he will probably be able to keep his house. Both lawyers and informants had stories of immediate remarriage for this reason.
15. To become registered, a creche must conform to certain standards of space per child, and meet certain health and building standards.
16. Table 15. Pensions: a Comparison of the Main Conditions and Amounts in 1983 for each Population Group
Conditions/Amounts White Col./Indian Black Age at Which payable men - 60 men - 60 men - 60
women - 65 women - 65 women - 65 Maximum pension R152 pm R93 pm R57 pm
(paid every 2 mnths as
R114) Maximum income + maximum R84 pm R42 pm R21 pm
assets to qualify for maximum + + +
pension RIO 000 R5 000 R2 500
free assets if no income 1
I f no income, maximum assets R42 000 R21 000 R10 500 to still qualify for pension
Maximum income to qualify R160 pm R80 pm R40 pm for minimum pension
Attendant's allowance R20 pm R12 pm R10 pm Age at which income no longer men:over 70 men: Over 70 men:Qver 70 assessed, i f working women: over \IIomen: over women: over
65 65 65
Notes: 1. Whites and Coloured/Asian figures represent maximum assets where there is also income. This figure was not directly obtainable for Blacks; the calcualtions do not in-
c~ude the first R2 500 of their assets. In the Cape Peninsula, where Blacks are unable to own property, we were informed that usually only income was assessed (tel.inter- views: Commissioner, 16 Mar.1984;social worker,16 Mar,1984) Sources: SANCA,Nov.1983, Cadman,1983a,1983b, Interviews (personal
and telephonic), social workers,S Mar.1984,16 Mar.1984, Department of Health and Welfare official,S Mar.1984, Department of Co-operation and Development commissioner and social worker,16 Mar.1984.
\
,
I"
17. Many women in grossly overcrowded' nouses felt so bound by the sharing ethic that they felt unable, despite instructions from the clinic, to feed even their ~l.nourished children ~pecial food if , tney could not afford to provide the same for all the children in I tne house. This led to very serious malnutrition, not through lack of knowledge, but thr~ugh an inability in the circumstances to exclude part of the group from a needed benefit (interview,health workers,Ja nua ry 1984).
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