Children are dying because of poverty, our moral compass is broken

Our moral compass is broken. We simply do not care anymore about the vulnerable people in society.

So what if mothers who are too poor to put food on the table kill themselves and their children?

“Do not have children if you cannot afford to look after them,” is the callous response. “Government can look after them”. But the government does not.

It happened again this past Monday, this time in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. A desperate mother, unable to feed her children due to poverty, took her four children into a forest in the middle of the night where she poisoned them before taking her own life. The oldest child got away and alerted the police.

A month ago, a mother in Butterworth, also in the Eastern Cape, killed her three children before hanging herself. She only had enough food to lace with poison for two of them and had to stab her oldest child.

These two heart-breaking stories went almost unnoticed in the media. Far more people read about the Springbok jerseys and what celebrities are up to. We are rightly shocked by events in other countries, such as earthquakes and floods, but too often ignore what happens in our own back yard.

It is sad, but will happen again because we have stopped caring. Our moral compass is gone.

ALSO READ: Eastern Cape mother allegedly poisons three kids before taking own life

Imagine you have to feed your family but you have nothing. Nothing more to sell, no job, no support, no food. Imagine death is the only way out. A loving mother has to kill her children because she has no food for them. She already went without food for days before realising there is no other way out.

The social development department dispatched officials to the area to provide support and sent out press releases urging people to ask for help, but it was too late. A mother already killed her children due to poverty.

According to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group’s Household Affordability Index survey, the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet was R899,54 in July, an increase of R5,76 or 0,6% compared to June and R75,41 or 9,1% more compared to a year ago.

Compare this to the Child Support Grant of R500 and you will find it is 25% below the Food Poverty Line of R663 and 44% below the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet.

The current “glitch” preventing pensioners from drawing their Sassa grants show how dire the situation is. People are sleeping at the pay points because they cannot afford to go home and come back again.

They are borrowing money from loan sharks that they will never be able to repay. The loan sharks get rich, the poor people get poorer.

We need to get our moral compass back as a country and start caring about vulnerable people in our society.

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