The short answer
Unless the country has a reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders agreement with South Africa, you may need to hire a family lawyer in that country to help you.
The whole question
Dear Athalie
My ex-husband with whom I have two children left South Africa to work in Zanzibar. He has been sending maintenance very sporadically and never the full amount appointed by the court. Sometimes he won't send money for months, leaving me to pay for everything.
I can't afford everything my children need on my salary, even with financial assistance from my church, and I have been blacklisted for debt incurred during Covid when I couldn't work.
If I try to speak to my ex about it, he just verbally abuses me. Can I take legal action?
The long answer
South Africa has a law called the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act 80 of 1963, which allows for the enforcement of maintenance orders in countries with reciprocal agreements. Zanzibar is part of Tasmania, which is not on the list of countries that have reciprocal agreements with South Africa.
In Tanzania Mainland, says global law firm Clyde & Co., the law that governs foreign judgements is the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act of 2019 (REFJA). REFJA only applies to a few countries, including the UK and some Commonwealth countries like Lesotho. South Africa is not on the REFJA list, and REFJA doesn’t apply in Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.
So it seems that the only way to enforce the South African court order would be to start a fresh court case in Zanzibar, using the South African court order as evidence of the debt owed by your ex-husband. (This treating of a foreign judgment as evidence of a debt is known as the legal doctrine of obligation, according to a legal resources website called Afriwise, in its explanation of “Alternative Enforcement Route for Non-REFJA Jurisdictions”.)
You would need to employ a family lawyer in Zanzibar to represent you and provide evidence and arguments to convince the Zanzibar court to enforce the South African order. Certified copies of the South African court order and proof of the amount owed are needed, according to the South African Department of Justice. All this is likely to be an expensive process and would take a lot of time.
Does your church perhaps have contact with churches in Zanzibar who might be able to assist somehow? Maybe through knowing a trustworthy family lawyer who might be prepared to help?
Perhaps you could approach Legal Aid, which is a means-tested organisation that must assist people who can’t afford a lawyer, for advice.
These are their contact details:
Email: communications2@legal-aid.co.za
Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm)
Please Call Me: 079 835 7179
You could also approach The Black Sash, which is an organisation that gives free paralegal advice. These are their contact details:
Email: help@blacksash.org
Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.
The Centre for Child Law at Tuks might also be able to help:
Email: centreforchildlaw@up.ac.za
Tel: 012 420 4502
Wishing you the best,
Athalie
Answered on May 7, 2025, 1:06 p.m.
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