May 29 has been designated Child Protection Week and the first week in June is anticipated to compliment the week on the South African calendar. With the escalating number of reported violent attacks on women and children, it was time for communities to take action against this scourge.
On June 2, Sekwati Primary School in Moroka North, City Year South Africa, and the Moroka police joined forces to create informative awareness, and to show support by demonstrating their concern over the savage killings of women and children. These killings have left the country in a moral quandary, with communities calling for an end to abuse.
“I am grateful that we managed to create this platform for our children to learn about the challenges and dangers that they are faced with out there. I am just hoping that the next session will have a greater number of people joining us,” stated Sekwati Primary School principal Snooky Msibi.
“This event was mainly to let the kids know that they are not facing this tragedy alone, but they must know that we are here for them. And foremost, it’s only to alert them that we cannot do this alone but they must help us by following the simple precautionary safety guidelines that we are sharing with them,” she concluded.
“At some stage, we can agree that kids can be scared to speak to the police, so we included the police officers just to show them that they must not be afraid of the police officers, and they must know that officers are there for their protection,” explained Nomvelo Dludlu from City Year SA.
Sergeant Matsobane Lekalakala of the Moroka Police Station extended his appreciation for this remarkable effort in trying to create a safe environment for the children as they are the country’s future leaders.
Lekalakala appealed to the parents to at least give themselves time to spend with their children and to advise them how to look out for themselves while they are playing.
“One major concern is that these kids are raised by their grannies and that results in the lack of security.
“Some of these grannies are way too old to always pay attention to the children’s every move which also results in them becoming victims.
“With these words, I would love to encourage all parents to be more involved in their children’s lives. Yes, there cannot be a total answer to resolving the matter, but at some point, it is good to do the best possible for the protection of our children,” he continued.
Lekalakala concluded by urging the family members to stop treating abusive family issues as “family matters” as this was a major contributing factor to unreported cases of abuse.
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