There is still a tendency to thin out divorce and family breakdown as events that happen to a small part of the population. It appears that the return rate is also markedly higher for black men than women, given the male shortage in rural areas and the tendency for influx control to limit the number of women in urban areas, e.g. force women along. Sufficient finances for the family are therefore crucial for the physical survival of the population and for its quality of life.
In South Africa, where there is no equal pay law and where men earn significantly more than women, especially in less skilled occupations, the father is sometimes the sole and almost always the main breadwinner. In order to obtain a picture of the situation of couples on divorce, a random sample of 10 divorce cases was drawn from the Cape Supreme Court, each case taken on certain arbitrary dates between 1978 and 1981, and 100 divorce cases. 100 cases involving single mothers and family breakdown were also drawn from the files of the Athlone Counseling Office.
Several days were also spent observing proceedings in the office of the Black Divorce Court Clerk. The current practice in the other divisions of the Black Divorce Court could not be. Our sample of about 90\ of the 1981-82 Supreme Court cases in which one or both parties were black had support orders for 27 children.
In 2 of the 4 Black cases, however, the expenses were expenses incurred in whole or in part only because the man insisted on them. Only 3 of the 100 Black women in the sample therefore had additional help with unavoidable expenses, and one of them only had help with the child's clothing expenses when the child spent his vacation with the father. Divorce orders embodying addi tiona 1 expenses of the children for which the husband agreed to pay, Supreme Court and.
When the above maintenance tables from our sample were analyzed by year, it was found that out of the premiums for which we had dates covering 197 children, premiums for 62 of the children (31.5\) were below the higher PHSL amount for colored and black respectively (the prices for the 14 white children involved are compared to the colored figure). While both parents are responsible for contributing pro rata to the support of the children, the PHSL amounts listed above do not include ordinary household needs and, as explained, do not include transportation. Regardless of the fairness of a particular decision to all parties concerned, it should be noted that awards, however small, are likely to represent a relatively high proportion of the recipient family's household income, given the low incomes of most women. and especially African women.
They are difficult to obtain, since, for a maintenance hearing to take place", a WOIlHn must provide the address of the father of her children, and the more mobile the population, the more PAsi~r it is for an uncooperative father to disappear A simple answer is not possible, depending on the reliability of the man as well as the amount and conditions of the payment, but certain general points can be marie... i. O Women of all population groups must first goes to the maintenance court, where a summons will be issued to the father of the child.
With black and Indian women, much seems to depend on the effectiveness of the social worker in ensuring that any role for lIBintenance. This last exception applies to black women who must work if they are able, regardless of the age of their children. However, judging by the Ministry of Cooperation and Development's policy of not giving scholarships to unemployed black women under the age of 60, the working lives of black men and black women are defined differently.
According to circulars (C)9/1/1/1 and 9/10 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, dated 5 September 1983, the number of unmarried mothers had increased and their eligibility for nBintenance allowance had therefore been. A comparison of the main conditions and amounts of maintenance allowance in 1983 for each population group. The effect of these provisions, combined with the means test, is that the most disadvantaged families in the most disadvantaged part of society may not receive regular assistance from the state at all.
This must be set against the background of the families involved – a background of broken homes, very crowded housing conditions, and deprivation of parental care or discipline for most of the children's waking hours.
Miscellaneous sources of income
Second, one or more family members may participate in the informal sector of the economy. In the interviews, there were no examples of legal ways of participating in the informal sector that contributed much to the household income, although some were important for the family, disproportionate to the amount received, due to the lack of other support. . Third, family assistance can occur in the provision of free or low-cost accommodation with parents or relatives for one or the entire secondary family.
Any of these sources of income could put the state grant at risk if they come to the attention of social security authorities. In the poorer parts of the community, pre-divorce housing would likely have been a council flat, a rented flat or staying with strangers or family. Due to the resulting high demand for rental housing and accommodation for these two layers of the population.
Most women in secondary families, especially in lower income groups, have to work full-time, regardless of the age of their children. However, as in the case of other social services, their availability and the extent of subsidization for different segments of the population seem to be largely inverse and not directly proportional to the needs of their users. However, this only applies if the combined income of the parents does not exceed R540 per month, if there is one child, R622.
To receive it, the combined income of the parents cannot exceed R280 where there is one child, R310. Creches: A comparison of the main conditions and amounts involved in 1983 for each population group in Cape Town. For immediate emergencies among Blacks, short-term loans are often possible through membership in one of the many types of loan and savings clubs that exist in the townships and rural areas.
For example, Essen and Wedge, reporting the longitudinal studies of the National Children's Bureau in the United Kingdom, argued that the experience of a poor life, of low income and of membership of an 'atypical' family (defined as a large family or single-parent households) were all known to be associated with lower life chances. However, they conceded 'that the evidence suggests that the reduced opportunities of children from single-parent families may be due more to the material handicaps of such families than to the family situation itself' (Maclean & Eekelaar, 1983:2). For example, as also noted above, the problems inherent in the lack of childcare facilities for the poorer parts of the population have long-term consequences for the future.
Interviews in Cape Town provided evidence of many of the features Lewis describes, further complicated by long-standing African patterns of family assistance.
Increasing income
Since the terms 'White', 'Coloured', 'Asian' (or 'Indian') and 'Black' are used in all official data and literature, discussed
The wife's domicile automatically follows that of the husband, but if she is the plaintiff and has been ordinarily resident in the Black Divorce Court's jurisdiction for at least one year prior to the divorce, she can sue for divorce in the South African Black Divorce Court. Among the lower income sections of the population there is also a very high rate of illegitimacy, in the sense of children resulting from unions which are not considered marriages under any scheme. There is also, in the case of some customary unions, a problem of defining whether a union exists or not.
Section 10(1)(a) residency rights are only available to blacks who have been resident since birth in a prescribed (urban) area. It is paid by the child's guardian who claims custody of the child after raising or maintaining the child regardless. However, there is conflicting evidence (telephone interview, Ministry official, 6 March 1984; telephone interview, social worker, 10 February 1984) as to whether a black woman whose husband has disappeared must first go to !oBintenance Court to press charges for non-support (as white, black, and Asian women do) or to refer her directly to the police, who then LOOK for him.
On the Cape Peninsula, where blacks cannot own property, we were told that usually only income was assessed (phone interviews: commissioner, March 16, 1984; social worker, March 16, 1984). Sources: SANCA, November 1984. 1983, Cadman, 1983a, 1983b, Interviews (personal and telephone), social workers, S March 1984, 16 March 1984, official of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, S March 1984, Commissioner for the Ministry of Cooperation and Development and social worker, March 16, 1984. This led to very serious malnutrition, not due to lack of knowledge, but due to the inability to exclude part of the group from a necessary benefit given the circumstances (interview, health workers, January 1984). University of Chicago Press, Chicago) Cock, J. 1983) 'Women and Changing Relations of Control' in South African Review I: Same Foundations, New Facades.
1982) 'Voices in isolation: An oral history of African domestic workers in Cape Town' UCT Industrial Sociology III, resea rch project paper (unpublished 1M nU9cript) Eekelaar, J.M. April, 1979). 1982) 'An Oral History of Domestic Workers' in Cape Town and their attitudes towards their socio-economic and political roles as·. -83) Standard of living of households in major urban centers of RSA (Planning Research Institute, University of Port Elizabeth).
South African National Council for the Aged (SANCA) Information Center Fact Sheets (Nov. 1983) Social Pensions for South African Whites/ Coloreds and Indians/ Blacks (SANCl'., South Africa) Schindler, J.E. July, 1980) 'The Effects of Inflow Control and Labour. Saving Appliances on Domestic Service', South African Labor Bulletin, Vol. 1983) Occupational Mobility Among Blacks in South Africa, SALDRU Working Paper No.
SALDRU
