While most mothers in Sandton are picking up their children from hockey practice or their expensive private schools others, who are destitute, can be seen at busy Sandton intersections, with their children, begging for any scraps from passing motorists.
This is the sad reality of contrast experienced in Sandton, as Metro police prepare to clamp down on these women, claiming that most are not the real mothers of these children.
Perhaps, you have felt pity for these desperate women and offered them some food or money. However, according to Metro police spokesperson, Edna Mamonyane, these women are often not the mother of the child that they appear to be caring for.
“What we have found is that mothers are [lending] their child to beggars on street corners. These beggars then go out for the day and get money and, when they return the child, they give a portion of this money to the child’s mother.”
She added that Metro police often intervene by removing the women from the streets and taking them to social workers. “These women do not want our help as they make more money from begging than they would from having a job.”
Mamonyane said that this is a huge issue as the mothers do not know exactly where their child is. “The child could be starving in the sun and this should be a huge safety concern for the mothers.
“They also prefer begging because there is [no one] that they have to report to and they can control their own lives on the streets.”
She further explained that the children who are being used as pawns by these women are of varying ages. “They could be very young babies under one-year-old or much older than that. ”
She stressed that many of these young victims can walk or crawl and can easily get onto the road. “We have had an incident where a woman left a child to sleep in the middle island of a road. The child woke up, crawled into the road and was run over by a car. The driver, who did not see the child, was completely traumatised.”
Mamonyane added that women who beg with children are likely to get more money than other beggars, as drivers pity the children that they are with.
Contrary to these allegations, Irene Mahuni begs with her four-year-old son, Nathi, on Rivonia Road. She said, “This is my son and he has the same surname as me. I have a total of three children and my other two children are in Zimbabwe with my friends. I make R50 per day begging here.”
She did not want to offer comment with regards to why this child was with her in South Africa while his siblings were without their mother in Zimbabwe. She concluded, “I watch Nathi and would never let him crawl or run into the road. I make sure that he has food and does not get too hot.”
Ward 103 councillor, Vincent Earp, said that he is extremely saddened by this issue. “Some mothers give their children to beggars to look after during the day because they cannot afford childcare… These beggars then sit in the blazing sun or the freezing cold with these children. Interventions are desperately needed.”
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