"Children of the fence" : the maintenance of extra-marital children under law and practice in Botswana

Abstract

This study is concerned with the laws regulating compensation for extramarital pregnancy and maintenance of extramarital children in Botswana. More specifically, it aims to comprehend the reasons for the increase in extramarital reproduction and its seeming tolerance by the society; to make an in-depth review of the customary, Roman-Dutch and statutory laws relating to extramarital pregnancy and their relationship to each other; to find out the extent and manner in which these laws are used in practice, and their effectiveness; to comprehend the interaction between these plural sources of law, both at the institutional and grassroots level; and to draw theoretical and practical conclusions, with a view to recommending changes in the law which are relevant to its consumers' social reality and day-to-day lives. Data come from statutes and legal texts, decisions of the superior courts, decisions of two local courts, viz. the chief's court and the magistrate's court in Kanye, the traditional capital of the Ngwaketse, a survey of 178 unmarried mothers in Kanye carried out in 1989, and interviews and courtroom observations.

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