Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Rise in violence against children
Incidence in SA higher than the global average
I don’t want them to do this again.
I am Jessica. Please help me.
I am Jordan. I was three when I died. My stepfather beat me up and my mother did nothing.
He hit me on the head and I started to bleed. He wouldn’t stop.
He put me in boiling water and burnt my whole body.
The water cooked my nail beds and my feet. Then someone redressed me in my pyjamas and put me back to bed.
The pain was unbearable and I died the next day.
I am Jordan.
I am dead. THE incidence of violence against children in South Africa is higher than the global average.
A study conducted by NGO Save the Children revealed that one in five children in South Africa (19.8%) had experienced sexual abuse, compared with the global average of 18% for girls and 8% for boys; one in three (34.4%) had experienced physical abuse, notably higher than the global average of 23%; one in six (16.1%) reported experiencing emotional abuse, compared with the global average of 36%; one in eight (12.2%) reported being neglected, compared with the global average of 16%; and one in six (16.9%) reported witnessing violence.
The study found that in 2015, violence against children had cost the economy R238.58 billion, or 5.93% of GDP.
A 2017 Child Abuse Tracking Study released by UCT revealed that only 19% of cases reported to social services were cross-referred to the police, and 8% referred back to social services by police.
Child Protection Week was launched in Langa on Monday, after the horrific deaths of two Grade 11 pupils at a hostel at Hoërskool Stella in Vryburg on Saturday shocked the nation, and while cases involving violent crimes against 3-year-old Courtney Pieters, 5- year- old Minentle Lekhatha and 4-yearold Iyapha Yamile were being heard in the Western Cape High Court.
At the launch, Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize announced that the theme for the week was,“Let us all protect children to move South Africa forward”, calling on communities to rally behind children and ensure their safety.
Two weeks ago, Xolani Lantu, 36, the jilted lover of Minentle’s grandmother, pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Minentle. He was charged with kidnapping and two counts of rape and murder.
Tomorrow will mark exactly one year since Minentle’s body was found dumped in 1m-deep water below a 5m-long bridge over Soet River, about 800m from her home.
Lantu confessed to the court that he had “undressed her under the bridge, told her to lay on her back and tried to penetrate her”. Pathologist Bronwyn Inglis said Minentle had sustained bruises and abrasions on the face, chest area and in her genitalia.
Judgment in the case is to be delivered on Wednesday.
Lantu cited differences with Minentle’s grandmother I am Patricia.
I was three when I died.
The abuse started as soon as my stepfather moved in with us.
He would throw me against walls when he got angry.
He kicked me in the stomach. Once my mom threw me from as the reason why he attacked Minentle. Lantu and Minentle’s grandmother had ended their relationship before Lantu abducted Minentle, raping and murdering her, and then dumping her body.
While Mortimer Saunders, on trial for the abduction, rape and murder of Courtney Pieters, and Courtney Pieters’s mother barely saw eye to eye, the 41- year- old man was a boarder at her Salberau home in Elsies River. He confessed to the court earlier this week that he wanted to get back at the little girl’s mother.
Save the Children communications manager Sibusiso Khasa said there could be no justification for violence against children.
“A breakdown in relations in a family setting, school or community does create a toxic environment for a child. While the breakdown in relations does put a child at risk, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will lead to physical or sexual abuse of the child. It’s direct impact is that it affects
‘A breakdown
the child’s emotions negatively, which is another form of violence/abuse against children.”
The deaths of 66 children in the province last year led to civil society calling for a children’s commissioner.
Such a commissioner would monitor the number of reported crimes committed against children, help society obtain a clearer picture of the kinds of violence that children experience in the province, and assist in monitoring the number of cases that result in prosecution and successful convictions.
The commissioner would be duty-bound to report to the provincial legislature annually on measures taken by the provincial government to protect and promote the interests of children in the Western Cape. The commissioner’s office would also have the power, as regulated by provincial legislation, to fulfil this function.
But it will be another six months to a year before the office of the child commissioner can be set up.
asanda.sokanyile@inl.co.za
environment’
my bedroom because I wet the bed.
I landed on something hard and my body hurt for a long time.
Even though they knew, no one in authority wanted to help.
After I died the experts said that almost every inch of my body was bruised.
I am Patricia.
I am dead.