Cape Town - If the yardstick to measure a country’s success was how well it protected its children, South Africa would be ranked among the bottom nations, if not last.
For our children violence is a daily occurrence that the country seems to normalise.
They are not safe even in the presence of family members, their supposed primary caregivers at all times.
This editorial space is not sufficient to list all the recent violent incidents that should have outraged the nation.
Perhaps quoting recent reports indicating that more than 500 children in the country have been murdered in the first half of the year, at a rate of three a day, puts into perspective the situation we are dealing with.
In fact it’s a crisis that requires all of us to pause and say: “It’s enough; not any more.”
These are just the murders – other violent crimes such as kidnappings, sexual assault, rape, and child abandonment are not included.
All the while the departments of Social Development and Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Police, and Justice react after the fact, with no concrete plans on how to address this pandemic.
This responsibility has largely been left to underfunded NGOs.
It then comes as no surprise that grieving parents and affected families resort to taking the law into their own hands, and this has the hallmarks of a country becoming a failed state.
Even the justice system is sometimes a letdown to many victims of violence. That a father attempted to take matters into his own hands when his daughter’s alleged killer appeared in court this week, says everything we need to know about how desperate families are for justice.
Ntokozo Zikhali, 30, who has been charged with the rape and murder of 4-year-old Bokgabo Poo had to be whisked to safety by police. He was out on bail in a separate matter in which he allegedly raped a 9-year-old girl.
The parents of both of these minors deserve to know why they have been failed by the justice system, which was supposed to be their last line of defence. Such decisions make a mockery of the country’s justice system and send a chilling message.
Until we prioritise protecting victims and their families more than the perpetrators, our children’s safety will forever be compromised.
Suffer the little children.
Cape Times