Youth need ‘safe’ events

FAILURE: NOWHERE FOR UNDER-18S TO BLOW OFF STEAM – RAGE ORGANISER

Enough for a road or block party in a township to only need neighbourhood’s permission.

The Enyobeni tragedy represents a systemic failure by government and police to enforce the rules equally in all areas, according to G&G Productions chief executive and Matric Rage Festival owner Greg Walsh.

Police and government officials appeared to display a certain disregard for enforcing the rules and regulations governing event planning in taverns and primarily lower-income areas, as opposed to thoser hosted in affluent areas.

“There are 21 sets of documents, licenses and compliance checks organisers of the Matric Rage Festival undergo before an event even takes place – from security checks to medical planning, waste disposal, and liquor licensing,” said Walsh.

“If we had to organise an event like that in Sandton or Cape Town, police would not have allowed it to go ahead because they enforce compliance to the letter in affluent areas.”

Walsh said when a road or block party took place in any township, the event organisers sometimes only got permission from the neighbours to close the road, and if and when the police arrived they accepted residents’ permission as enough to host such an event, whereas in Sandton or Cape Town, it would be shut down before it could begin.

Walsh said a decent festival would cost around R2.5 million.

This meant that for a fraction of the price the department of sports, arts and culture was willing to fork out for its R22 million flagship project, it could easily partner with the private sector to hold 20 road shows in rural areas for youngsters.

The department did not respond

to requests for an overview of their plans to engage the youth.

Hundreds of youngsters believed to be of school-going age flocked to Enyobeni Tavern in East London to celebrate the end of term.

The Matric Rage Festival is restricted to over-18s and varsity students. It is treated as a rite of passage for many youngsters with the economic means to attend the week-long event, but it’s too expensive to run multiple times a year.

European countries typically have hundreds of festivals for the

youth, but the South African market is limited. It has been nearly 15 years since an event was held for solely under-18s.

The Enyobeni tragedy highlighted a need to provide safe, regulated entertainment and events for young people.

Walsh said the government could easily take the lead when it came to creating a culture of great events for youngsters. But these would require strong partnerships with private sponsors.

There are still unanswered questions about how 21 youngsters died in a tavern in East London. And, knowing the slow way our wheels of justice grind, it’s going to be some time before we get answers. But, whatever the cause is eventually determined to be – and whoever is held legally responsible – the awful tragedy focuses a spotlight on our society.

Many blamed the tavern owner for putting profits above safety. Yet, video evidence shows there were hundreds of children swamping the venue, eager to celebrate the end of mid-year exams.

Others accused licensing authorities of not enforcing laws barring admission to those aged under 18. That is a fair issue to raise – along with the linked one of why the police in the area did not do their jobs to prevent underage clubbing and drinking.

Yet, at the heart of the problem is the fact that many South Africans are reckless in the way they abuse alcohol and party endlessly.

Our addiction to booze is the root of many of the evils in our society – the main one being gender-based violence. As is clear from what happened in East London, our children are picking up the taste for booze at younger and younger ages.

This “live for today” attitude among youngsters does show individual irresponsibility but is also a reflection of a fatalistic “eat, drink and be merry” approach to life, given that many pupils, in townships particularly, have little prospect of building better lives for themselves.

Yet, an onerous responsibility must fall on the shoulders of the parents, who allowed kids as young as 13 to be out boozing into the early hours of the morning.

Inasmuch as it takes a village to help a child grow, it also takes a village to allow one to die.

We are all guilty.