Police mark child protection week with a campaign
ALEXANDRA - Police lead a partnership campaign in Alex to kick start child protection week.
The Alexandra Police Station and members of the Joburg North Cluster of the South African Police Services recently hosted other provincial clusters and schoolchildren to commemorate this year’s Child Protection Week.
This annual occasion starts on 29 May.
The event, sponsored by the Spar Group and Caxton Newspapers, was held at the East Bank Hall while the nation is gripped by horrific reports of child and women abuse at the hands of men, uncles, fathers, husbands and partners who are supposed to protect them.
Read:Â Child Protection Week launched
The cluster which includes Bramley, Sandringham, Midrand and Sandton police stations was joined by other clusters from around Gauteng,
local non-profit organisations, Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training, South Africa National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency, departments of community safety and social development and children from MC Weiler Primary School.
The organiser, cluster champion and member of the station’s Women’s Network, Constable Iddah Matheba said the event under the theme, My child is your child, will be rolled out at other schools in the cluster throughout the year if resources are available. “We want to scale up awareness on the scourge impacting children, and protect them through public and private partnerships, including with residents and the business community.”
The cluster commander General Anna Mateise, bemoaned the recent horrific incidents in media of the rape, murder and mutilation of women and their subsequent burning which appear to be on the upswing. “The good in society shouldn’t watch the bad commit this abuse; or allow the trafficking of girls and children, the selling of drugs and neglect of children or the violation of the rights of women.
“The police and community should be good examples of child protection. They should help them to distinguish the right things from the wrong, and stop the violence and crime destroying the country and the world.” She also urged families and children to partner in crime awareness and protection campaigns by reporting relatives who abuse children.
She encouraged parents to teach them safety measures, teach them vigilance and to be selective of who they associate with. “Encourage them to focus more on their studies and teach girls not to be coerced with material rewards to stop their recruitment by prostitution syndicates.
“They should take the number plate of a vehicle involved and report it to the police.” She urged the police to intensify safety awareness campaigns in schools to improve children’s trust in them to encourage them to report crimes.
Brigadier Mike Lekubu of the police’s Men for Change programme urged families to teach boys how to be caring fathers who will respect women. “This will help to reduce the prison population, which is currently 80 per cent male.
“When they struggle with emotional challenges, encourage them to cry in order to let out bottled-up tension and frustration which often results in the bullying of others and da eep-seated anger which is let out through crime,” Lekubu said.
He urged mothers in strained relationships not to use children as weapons against their fathers and partners. “Allow them to contribute in nurturing, particularly boys who need father figures as role models to help them to grow into balanced and caring men. Also, discourage girls from getting involved with blessers who will only ruin their lives.
A police officer at the station, Contable Bongani Mbalati took an impassioned stand against drugs, which he said were destructive and caused bankruptcy, regardless of race and social status.
Details: Constable Iddah Matheba 011 439 7718/9.
