Michelle cahill Are our streets safer?

CITY now a safer place,” the headline screamed. This after child rapist Moses Monnapule was sentenced to three life terms for the rape of two little girls aged six and eight.

The parents of these two girls were relieved. I bet their neighbours were too.

Our justice system finally stepped in and took a monster off the street – this after giving him numerous chances to rehabilitate himself.

I guess life isn’t that simple. Maybe some people are born with it, others think that economic or social conditions force them to do what they do; others may just think they are far cleverer than anybody else and they will never be caught.

Yes, everybody thinks we have a bumbling police force and I don’t disagree. How many child molesters have not walked due to the police not doing their jobs? How many walk because their mental conditions can not be evaluated due to lack of available facilities? How many more are going to get away with either raping, molesting, kidnapping or murdering our little angels as a result of them not being brought to justice?

So yes, I’m happy that one person will not be able to continue preying on our little ones, but our streets are definitely not safer.

This month we celebrate Women’s Month. We “celebrate” all our women who have overcome being victims of abuse and are now survivors who go on to advise others who are in the same situation. I applaud you for rising above your circumstances. However, how many of these women continue the same cycle and their kids have to bear the brunt of their actions?

How many mothers just lock their children inside the house while they go out and party for the night? They then want to come and cry crocodile tears when something happens to their children.

What about the mother who is implicated in beating her child to death because she was satisfying her own craving for drugs?

A lot of the time these children are not born out of love but either the mother has been raped or she failed to take freely-available contraception. Maybe the mother wanted to get out of her parental home and enjoy her freedom and getting pregnant was the only way to do it. I remember that happening a lot when I was growing up.

More often than not the child was used as a leverage tool and always came off second best.

Other times couples think that having a baby will bring them closer together. At the end of the day in most cases that doesn’t happen and the child is used as a pawn between the two.

Then there is the case of an “irresponsible mother” who was diagnosed with HIV/Aids. During this time she refused to take the antiretroviral drugs which are available. She got pregnant and did not take treatment to prevent mother to child transmission. The nine-year-old child has now been diagnosed with the disease and has no great future to look forward to.

Little Keitumetse Magwadibane has been missing since 2016, Rehana Kwena Moshoeshoe has been missing since 2011, a twoyear-old’s body was dumped in a veld earlier this year, a 68-year-old grandmother was raped in her own home … I can keep going.

In these cases the perpetrators are still at large or the cases are dragging on in the courts.

“So are our streets and city really safe now?