Lack of accountability

QUESTIONS are being asked about what happened at Ngcobo and how we failed to prevent the tragedy that engulfed that community. By early 2016 information on the situation was in the public eye. The Daily Dispatch reported extensively on attempts by the community to draw attention to the danger posed by a cult in their midst. A petition was submitted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in the executive branch, parliament knew about it, the local police knew about it and above all, the Department of Social Services responsible for protecting children under the Children’s Act, knew about it.

Any meaningful action by any of these actors would have led to the closure of this cult and the prevention of the tragedy. However few acted and those who did only went halfway towards a meaningful investigation. Social Services removed 22 children to a place of safety. What is not clear is how they used the 90 days in which the children were under their supervision to conduct a full investigation. Did they do psychosocial evaluations of the children and their parents? Had they done they may have discovered cases of mental trauma, sexual abuse, medical neglect and child endangerment with unsecured weapons.

Did they conduct site visits to determine the environment in which the children were held and if these violated the Children’s Act? Was there any attempt made by policing units or the justice portfolio to infiltrate the organisation? Could parliament have conducted its own investigation?

If the answer is “no” to these questions, one conclusion is that there was general lack of institutional accountability. If this is one of our weaknesses we ought to have a National Day of Accountability to sensitise our governing structures to their duty to respect citizens’ rights to have their needs attended to expeditiously. — Wongaletu Vanda, via e-mail