Parents urged to fight ‘list’
Community leaders take action after sex-slurs chat groups cause havoc
COMMUNITY leaders in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas have called on parents to play an active part in eradicating the controversial Jintoe List which is causing havoc at several schools. A Weekend Post report on the list at the weekend explained how it detailed claims of sexual activity among pupils and had been widely distributed in WhatsApp chat groups.
“Jintoe” is a commonly used slang word for “whore”.
Several schools, including Sanctor and Bethelsdorp high schools, confirmed that some of their pupils were affected.
At a meeting for concerned parents at Sanctor last night, lay counsellor Patricia Arnolds said many other schools in the northern areas were affected, with some reporting as many as four lists.
Arnolds and other lay counsellors are planning to visit the 28 schools in the Bethelsdorp area as soon as the new term begins, to offer their services.
“This list speaks explicitly about sexual acts and it is not limited to girls, it is boys as well,” Arnolds said.
“It has caused parents to fight with [other] parents and girls to assault one another.
“It has [even] caused a parent to go as far as beating a child to a pulp.
“As lay counsellors, we are extending our hands to parents and asking you to help us eradicate this list.”
Arnolds said one girl had already attempted suicide.
“That is how far this Jintoe List fiasco has evolved.”
She said it was extremely difficult to trace the origin of the chat group, as it was started by someone who made derogatory comments and then left, making the first person who was added to the group the new administrator by default.
Captain Nadia Swanepoel, of the Bethelsdorp police, said WhatsApp’s servers were in America, posing a problem for law enforcement. “If you delete what you sent on the group, we cannot trace it.”
Swanepoel has reached out to the Film and Publications Board, which runs programmes about cyber-bullying and other issues, to assist the affected schools.
“We haven’t dealt with something like this [before],” she said. At the meeting, a parent of a girl named on the list said parents had a duty to protect their children from these attacks.
“It causes a psychological and mental disturbance, especially to a girl,” the Westville High parent said.
“Girls are so much more fragile when it comes to negative [attention].
“When this whole thing [came to light], I immediately asked her [the daughter] about it and she said she knew about it and was not worried because it was not the truth – but what about the others?
“This is far from a joke.”
‘ It has caused parents to fight with [other] parents and girls to assault one another. It has [even] caused a parent to go as far as beating a child to a pulp – lay counsellor Patricia Arnolds