Internationally acclaimed motivational speaker and businessman Vusi Thembekwayo and his baby mama are facing off in bitter feud over the custody of their children.
Thembekwayo, one of South Africa’s best-known motivational speakers and entrepreneurs, has approached the Johannesburg High Court on 11 September seeking an order regulating his care and contact with the children who are living with his baby after their acrimonious break up about five years ago.
The silver-tongued entrepreneur, who has been enjoying limited access to his kids since the disintegration of their relationship, is seeking a phased-in arrangement that would initially see his contact with his children take place under the supervision of a social worker before gradually progressing to unsupervised weekend contact.
However, this is not going to be a cake walk for Thembekwayo as his ex lover has informed the court on 28 September that she will oppose his application.
According to the court papers, which Africa Daily has seen, Thembekwayo wants the first phase to allow him to spend time with the children every alternate Saturday from 9am to noon, excluding travelling time.
He said the contact would be supervised by a suitably qualified social worker from a reputational institution, or another similar service provider agreed to by him. And his baby mama.
Thembekwayo said the proposed supervised arrangement would remain in place for at least four months or eight .
He proposes that the second phase would then increase contact to every alternate Saturday from 9am to 5pm, while continuing to be supervised by a social worker.
This phase, he said, would run for at least three months or six contact sessions, whichever occurs later.
Thereafter, he added, he will seek to move to a third phase in which he would have unsupervised overnight contact with the children every alternate weekend.
Thembekwayo said under the proposed arrangement, the children would stay with him from 9am on Saturday until 4pm on Sunday.
The papers state that this phase would last for at least two months or four contact sessions, whichever occurs later, and would be subject to the supervising social worker being satisfied that the contact presented no risk or harm to the children.
Thembekwayo further proposes that the progression would ultimately allow him to have the children every alternate weekend from after school on Friday until before school on Monday.
He would be responsible for collecting the children from school or their extra-mural activities on Friday and returning them to school on Monday morning.
In the court papers, Thembekwayo makes it clear that missed contact sessions would not automatically count towards progression between the different phases.
“Such session shall not be regarded as having been exercised for purposes of progression to the next phase,” he states.
He said progression would instead be calculated with reference to sessions actually exercised by him and “not by mere effluxion of time”.
Thembekwayo further seeks reasonable telephone and WhatsApp video contact with his children twice a week.
He said the proposed calls would be limited to 10 minutes per child and would take place at a time agreed between him and his baby mama, taking into account the children’s routine.
If no agreement could be reached, the proposed arrangement would provide for calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 6pm and 6.30pm, he stated.
In his application, Thembekwayo further seeks the appointment of a psychologist, therapist or other mental-health professional experienced in reunification therapy and parent-child relationship restoration.
The professional , he said , would be tasked with facilitating what he describes as the “therapeutic reintroduction of contact” between him and the children.
He said he and his baby mama would have one month from the date of the order to jointly appoint the professional.
If they failed to agree, he will ask that the Gauteng Family Law Forum be requested to make the appointment.
Thembekwayo has made further requests relating to his children’s international travel.
He seeks an order dispensing with the requirement for his consent for the children to apply for, renew and be issued with South African passports and any necessary international travel visas.
Thembekwayo further seeks authorisation for his baby mama to act as the sole signatory on behalf of the children for purposes of passport applications at the Department of Home Affairs and relevant visa applications.
He also seeks an order waiving the requirement for him to sign a Parental Consent Affidavit or provide formal written consent for the children to leave and return to South Africa for international travel.
Under the proposed arrangement, the baby mama would be required to provide Thembekwayo, through his attorneys or personally, with a comprehensive travel itinerary, return flight details and emergency contact numbers at least 14 days before departure.
Thembekwayo said that the requested contact arrangement is intended to regulate the relationship between him and his children.
Thembekwayo is also seeking an order directing his baby mama to pay the legal costs of the application if she chooses to oppose it.
But that did not deter his baby mama from challenging him. The baby mama has filed papers in the high court stating that she will challenge his application.
“ Kindly take notice that the above mentioned respondent intends to oppose the applicant….’s application and appoints the address for service of all documents and process at …..,” read her papers which were filed by her lawyers, Jennifer Scholtz Attorneys. Thembekwayo and his baby mama could not be reached for comments at the time of publication.
