Creating awareness of abuse against children...

By Fayrooz Bailey

Two young South African children were brutally robbed of their lives over the past two weeks - seven-year-old Sheldean Human from Pretoria, and 11-year-old Annasetacia Wiese from Cape Town. It seems little has changed since this column - a rallying call to arms in the fight against violence against children - first appeared on http://www.iafrica.com/ and this week… That shouldn't have been. Nothing to be proud about...

Fri, 23 Sep 2005

Outrage should permeate the collective consciousness. Activism, which died a sad death with the advent of democracy and shiny shopping malls, should be resurrected. We should be planning a Million Parents' March; form a human chain that would span the country; launch a paedophile public registry. My god, anything will do. As long as we do SOMETHING. Because frankly I'm tired of this culture of "if it doesn't affect me I can't be bothered…"

Because even though it appears to be merely statistics, headlines speak volumes, as do conversations one cannot help but eavesdrop on while on the train, in the taxi or in the bus, by people who live in communities affected by this abhorrent scourge – violence against children. The week started on a grim note with news that the body of 10-year-old Benoni girl, Marissa Naidoo, had been found on Sunday, stuffed in a suitcase. Marissa had been abducted from her school the week before. When police swooped on the flat of her alleged kidnapper, he fled, leaping to his death over a balcony. Marissa was buried on Wednesday.

Later on Monday, also disappearing from her school, was eight-year-old Cape Town girl Veronique Solomons. The last time she was reportedly seen was around lunchtime on the back of a stranger's bicycle. Nearly a week later, and there's still no sign of Veronique. Let our hope that she will be found safe and sound remain as strong as her parents'… …

And for the parents of a two-year-old boy who was allegedly abducted in Athlone, Cape Town on Saturday. For the family of three-year-old Juwaida Joseph from Delft in Cape Town, however, all hope has died. The toddler apparently disappeared between 2 and 4pm on Wednesday while playing outside her home. Police found her body in a field three kilometres from her house.

Seven-year-old Ntswaki Sonica Moloi from Bethlehem met an untimely and tragic death too this week. Her half-naked body was found in the casing of a sports stadium floodlight on Sunday night. A 27-year-old man, a neighbour, had been arrested. The possibility of rape will be investigated.

The SA Police Service's annual report this week stated that children were the victims in 40.8 percent of rape cases reported during 2004/05. "It is clear that especially in relation to sexually motivated violence, women and children (who together account of 100 percent of rape victims) are indeed extremely vulnerable," said the report. Despite this, and the fact that rape had increased by four percent over the two financial years and indecent assault by eight percent, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, upon releasing the report in Pretoria on Wednesday, said: "The future to me looks very rosy in terms of the fight against crime and criminality in South Africa." Later on he admonished South Africans for bad-mouthing their country overseas and giving it the image of a crime-ridden nation. I think the message is being spread regardless of bad mouthing.

In court this week, was Dina Rodriguez, accused of plotting the murder of six-month-old baby Jordan Leigh Norton. One newspaper showed a cheerful looking Rodriguez outside the court, where her bail was being challenged after she allegedly violated its conditions. There was something macabre about that smile.

Also in court this week was a 32-year-old East London businessman, who has been charged with possessing pornographic photographs of five-year-old girls. The pictures were found on a digital camera.

I come from Mitchell's Plain, a community that had witnessed the pain and suffering of many a parent who had lost a child to violence at the hands of someone else. Like Matthew Ohlson and Rafiek Hardien – whose family I personally know. Ohlson (9) disappeared in 1997; he has yet to be found. His parents Michael and Michelle Ohlson have established the organisation, Concerned Parents for Missing Children, to help track down other missing children.

Five-year-old Hardien went missing from the road on which he lives in August last year. His body was found in Mitchell's Plain two weeks later. He had been murdered. In the case of crime and violence against children, statistics are not merely numbers. Are we allowing these crimes to happen? By becoming the docile, preoccupied society that we have; by our silence; by failing to acknowledge that we share a collective responsibility in keeping children safe; by not reclaiming our streets? We are. And there's nothing Proudly South African about that. .

Fayrooz Bailey was recently awarded a White Ribbon Award from Women Demand Dignity for her 2005 column 'Nothing to be proud about...' She is news editor for iafrica.com and mother to two delightful cherubs.