What has SA offered to our children in the past 30 years of freedom?
In next three decades, what will child born in 1994, as they approach retirement, think of six decades in democratic SA?
The violence that SA’s most vulnerable citizens, children, experience is often condemned, and calls made for more punitive actions to be taken against perpetrators. Yet, daily, we see children being treated in the most harrowing and despicable of ways.
In recent months, there has been a lot of reflection on the past three decades of freedom and the miracle that is SA, a miracle for a country that avoided a racially based violent transition route, thanks, among many, to Nelson Mandela.
While a violent route was avoided, there are still a lot of sticking points, sore ones, that have haunted Madiba’s nation in the past 30 years. We need to reflect on what SA has offered children in the past 30 years.
During the euphoria of the dawn of our constitutional democracy, crimes such as murder, abuse, rape, sexual and common assault were committed against children. The state was violent and this violence was felt across all levels of society, including children who could be shot for wanting an education that prepared them for the future. Thirty years on, it’s still the same script. This time, it’s families and communities who have turned on children.
Benzeni na? (What have they done to deserve this?) Adults have been talking for years about solutions that can hopefully end various violations against children. What has been missing is involving the same children being spoken about to play a central role in this decisionmaking and to tell us what they need from the adults creating the environments in which they live.
In this light, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund raised its hand to host this year’s edition of the Africa Children’s Summit (ACS). This is 500 children, coming together in a hybrid summit that prioritises their voices and ensures they end it with a strong outcomes statement mainly based on their focus during deliberations – seen, heard, engaged in education.
This year’s summit will focus on education while also addressing the myriad health and safety threats millions of African children face. The children elected to focus on education as they realised the dire state of lack of access to quality education and how even those with access still battle to read and understand a simple text at the age of 10.
Delegates at ACS, aged between 10 and 17, will consider the latest World Bank State of Global Education Update, which states that “nine out of 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and understand.” The report further says that 70% of children face the same challenge globally.
The child-led summit, in August, will delve into what can be done to assist children still battling to recover from missing school during Covid19 and how to help them as they have forgotten the skills they previously learned.
Recent years have highlighted the widening gap of inequality among children.
A child born in 1994 is 30 years old this year. In the next three decades, what will this child, as they approach retirement age, think of their six decades in democratic SA? What did the country achieve regarding how it’s been treating its children? Is it a better, safer SA with an improved education system?
We all envisage living in a prosperous country, especially our children. As the 30-year-old young adult looks at the eyes of those born after her, she does not need to despair about their future or worry that their existence in our nation will be littered with depressing scourges.
Through the department of social development, the private sector and civil society organisations, the government does a lot of work to help and protect children, but is enough being done? We have to do better if the next generation is to experience a different SA. Will we have created a country that is safe for children in the places they live, work and play? Will we be turning the corner in ways we wish to or will we be beating the same drums, yet there is yet to be a definitive change?
We all envisage seeing happier, healthier children living in safe spaces and each one of us is responsible for creating those spaces within our sphere of influence. We dare not fail them. In the next 30 years, we will be the elderly at their mercy and the way we treat them now will come back to haunt us.