Top advocate and acting judge of the High Court and Labour Court, Vuyani Ngalwana SC will appeal a judgment that saddled him with the maintenance of children he had with the woman he claims he entered a sperm donor agreement with.
Ngalwana had approached the Johannesburg High Court to pray that he should not be dragged into paying maintenance for the minor twins whom he sired through artificial insemination with a well-known medical doctor and academic, known to this publication.
However, Johannesburg High Court acting judge Ceri von Ludwig dismissed his application with costs.
Ngalwana doesn’t dispute that the twins are his biological children born through artificial insemination in October, 2021. He asked the court to order that the gamete donor agreement between him and the woman be declared valid and enforceable. A gamete donor is someone who donates their eggs or sperm to assist another in conceiving a child through assisted reproductive technology.
Ngalwana on Friday referred Sunday World to his attorney. “We are appealing the judgment as we believe it is wrong in law. Please deal with my attorneys, not directly with me.”
However, his lawyer, Gcwali Twala of Ramushu Mashile Twala, said that she had contacted her client to alert him to the Sunday World enquiry, and further told him that according to law firm policy, it did not comment on media stories regarding client matters.
Ngalwana, who is married, told the court that he donated sperm to his former mistress, who used it to conceive and later give birth to the twins. He said, therefore, he should not be considered their father for purposes of parental responsibilities and rights, including being forced to maintain them.
The advocate, who is very vocal when it comes to judicial matters in the country, told the court that he was entangled in a romantic relationship with the respondent for at least three years. Though they later broke up, they kept the fire between the sheets whenever they met and continued to communicate via WhatsApp.
Ngalwana told the court that around December 2020, his ex-girlfriend asked him to be a gamete donor for her to have a child, and he agreed because of his care and affection for her.
Ngalwana said that he signed a standard “sperm donor consent’ form at the clinic.
“The document contemplated donation to an anonymous recipient, and no contact by the donor or any of his family with any child might be conceived,” stated Ngalwana in court.
He pointed out that the woman made financial demands of him to raise kids.
Ngalwana said that the woman approached the maintenance court in April 2024, and two months later, she amended to double her claim.
He said in his replying affidavit that his willingness to assist the woman to conceive was conditional and aimed at fulfilling her desire, while maintaining his boundaries.
The mother said that though they broke up, they were in a relationship on and off, and even tried for a baby in vain, eventually deciding to opt for using his gametes.
The woman told the court that Ngalwana was delighted at her pregnancy and was an involved partner. “He built a relationship with the children to the extent that they know him as their father,” she said, adding that he had maintained them.
She said she only asked for more after she lost her job, at which time he “played the sperm donor card”.
The court said Ngalwana failed to prove the existence of a valid gamete donor agreement. It said the relief he sought will effectively declare the children fatherless and therefore deprive them of all the benefits of that relationship.
It dismissed his application.
