Enough child killings
Community activists on a mission to put an end to mass murder
SAVE our children in 2018! That’s the call from child rights and community activists, many of whom played a leading role in the search – and later gruesome discoveries – for children who went missing and were found murdered this year.
Community organisations estimate that at least 66 children died this year. These include Courtney Pieters, 3, Jeremiah Ruiters, 18 months, Stacha Arendse, 11, Rene Roman, 13, and Aqueel Davids, 9.
Community activist Joanie Fredericks said they would be going all out to prevent child killings next year, starting with research into the root causes.
Fredericks was involved in the search for Stacha Arendse, whose body was found in a field not far from her family’s house.
“Not long after she went missing we started searching for her,” said Fredericks. “We later asked her mom not to go to the crime scene and see her murdered daughter.
“The search for Courtney Pieters, 3, was also very traumatic for her mom, Juanita, and us. Shortly after she disappeared we kept asking the police to bring in sniffer dogs to look for the child inside the house.
“There are days that Juanita believes Courtney will be coming back home and that she did not die. The child was the apple of her eye, only a mom will know what it’s like to lose a child…”
Mortimer Saunders, whom Courtney knew, has been charged with her murder.
Fredericks said it was for these reasons that they would be changing their approach to the protection of children.
“We will be looking at the root causes of why these children were killed. That’s why we will start with a research project into the killings. We need to know why young children are being murdered.
“Our communities are looking for solutions, because in most of the cases the perpetrators were known to the children. They were not killed by gangsters.
“There is also a huge concern about young children who still play outside until very late. Most of the parents who lost children said they did not expect it to happen to them,” she said.
Trauma Centre director Valdi van ReenenLe Roux, said: “Just yesterday, a threeyear-old child was found in a plastic bag in Wesbank. It seems as if the killing of children is continuing.
“We need to resolve the violence that is perpetrated against children. That is why it is such a priority that we look into the safety of children.
“We need to ask if we are hitting the problem on the head with the programmes we have, because we also need answers to what the root causes are.
“This time of the year is also a very difficult time for parents who lost children. I am especially thinking about them. We are hoping there will not be any child killings in 2018,” she said.
Director of Ambassadors for Change, Pastor Delicia Williams, said she was horrified by the brutal killing of a 17-year-old girl in Wallacedene, Kraaifontein. Williams said the teen was stabbed 39 times. “This shows the amount of anger and brutality in our communities.”