Author Pat Moodley launched her first novel on Wednesday in Cape Town. The event drew readers, writers, friends, and family to celebrate the debut, which explores identity, resilience, and modern South African life.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The retirement of children’s rights advocate and former provincial head of the KZN Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Pat Moodley, has birthed a novel which creates awareness and provides a platform to stimulate discussions around grooming, bullying, cyber-bullying, sexual and child violence.
The novel, Sunshine Lost, has taken real life issues that teenagers can relate to and tells a story of a young learner forced to leave behind her innocent childhood to navigate a path involving grooming, bullying and abuse.
Moodley is an advocate for children’s rights and has been part of the team responsible for drafting the current legislation protecting the rights of children, and her journey has continued to ensure the implementation of that legislation.
Moodley has had a career in justice spanning over 30 years in various roles, including sitting as a Family Court magistrate and has assisted countless families and children to protect their rights.
Moodley concluded that there is insufficient advocacy regarding violence against children.
“Social media platforms provide just enough cover for the perpetrators to cause serious emotional harm to the victims. There is a dearth of information available on and a serious lack of advocacy on these issues.
“We need to begin engaging our children on these harsh subjects because even if the adults want to turn a blind eye, it forms part of the everyday trauma of the child’s life.”
About her inspiration to pen the book, Moodley said: “Unfortunately, my ideas come from real life experiences. While I am cautious about fictionalising the real-life stories of survivors of violence, unlike adults, many children do not have a voice to express their experiences or their emotions.
“This book provides a voice for child victims and captures both the physical and mental harm that they suffer.”
At the launch, hosted parallel to the 28th Annual Global Family Law Conference, Moodley said her intention with the novel is to create a platform where it is introduced to high school curricula through which pupils, parents, and educators will have safe places to engage around the book’s themes of grooming, bullying, and child and sexual abuse.
“It is a very easy book to read. The flow of language is easy and that is because it is primarily aimed at high school learners. They need to know that these ills exist out there. I find that in many of the complaints that come to me, even now that I am retired, it is because children are just naive - they are too accepting.
“Parents don’t want to talk about these issues with their children. They don’t alert them to it and they are not conscious that these things are happening. I am hoping that we can create platforms within the home and at schools where we can begin to openly and transparently discuss these issues and make our children more aware of what is going on,” said Moodley.
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya described 'Sunshine Lost' as a clarion call for child safety in a nation under siege from violence, exploitation, and silence.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, who said “shame silences survivors”, described the publication as a clarion call for child safety in a nation under siege from violence, exploitation, and silence.
“Moodley’s work is a beacon in this darkness and is essential reading for every South African youth and South Africans committed to protecting our youth.
“South Africa grapples with a dire epidemic of violence against children, where over 106,000 child rape cases and 22,000 sexual assaults were reported from 2018/2019 to 2023/2024 - averaging 48 rapes daily. Gender-based violence and femicide has been declared a national disaster, permeating schools where 91 rapes occurred in just three months of 2024 alongside rampant bullying affecting 3.2million learners annually… This is no fiction, it is our lived reality amplified by a criminal justice system strained by backlogs and inadequate safeguards,” said Chief Justice Maya in a message of support.
Chief Justice Maya said Moodley’s book is a masterpiece of advocacy disguised as a narrative crafted by a legal luminary who authored the Child Justice Act, shaped the Children’s Act and presided as a Family Court magistrate for many years.
“Moodley’s retirement has birthed this labour of love, drawing from frontline witness to children’s vulnerabilities.”
Visit www.patmoodley.org for the buy links where the book will soon be available.