Corrie mum on 'daughter'

2003-03-17 23:04

Sonja Carstens

Johannesburg - Corrie Sanders, the World Boxing Organisation's new heavyweight champion, refuses to talk about the "malicious woman" who keeps trying to steal his limelight by claiming that he is the father of her six-year-old daughter.

"Does she want to sue me for maintenance again? Rather talk to my manager," an upset Sanders, 37, replied when asked about his association with Elize van der Westhuizen, 32, from Pretoria.

She plans to sue Sanders for maintenance again. She claims he is the father of her daughter, Chere, 6, and demands that he admits to this.

"It's not about money. I don't want maintenance, but my child has the right to know who her father is. The only way I can get Corrie (Sanders) in court, is to sue for maintenance," Van der Westhuizen said.

She has dragged Sanders to court several times over the past six years to contest the result of a negative paternity test. The Pretoria High Court earlier found that Sanders could not be forced to submit to a second paternity test.

Van der Westhuizen claims Sanders undertook to reach a settlement with her shortly before he left for Germany for his title fight.

"When he returned last week, he sent a message with a friend that if Naas Botha and Steve Hofmeyr could get away with it, so could he. I should do what I want."

Botha and Hofmeyr pay maintenance for their illegitimate children.

Van der Westhuizen said Sanders and his former wife, Sunet, hung up the phone when she called.

Sanders and his wife divorced last year. She has custody of the couple's children, Marinique, 5, and Dean, 2.

Sanders claimed earlier that Van der Westhuizen was malicious and that her allegations caused trauma for his family.

Vernon Smit, Sanders's manager, said on Monday that it wasn't worth the effort to react to Van der Westhuizen's allegations. Sanders left the country on Monday evening to attend several press conferences in Britain.

- Beeld