Dozens of young boys from Kagiso flocked to Chief Mogale community hall to use their free time of school holidays to participate in a Safe Space programme targeted at grooming and moulding boys into responsible young men.
The initiative by the Kagiso Stakeholders Forum was to create a safe Space and foster a culture of transparency and communication with their parents, particularly zooming into boys aged between 10 to 15 years.
The programme seeks to inspire and motivate boys and young men to become better versions of themselves and foster conversations with mentors, speakers as well as peers to share insights pertaining to school, career and social setting.
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“After doing research at schools and courts, we as a forum decided to tackle issues affecting them such as bullying, peer pressure, substance abuse, gangsterism and a lack of fatherhood.
“Most of these boys are from child- headed or single parent families, it’s always difficult for their single mothers to understand and raise a boy child alone,” said Thabo Motlhabi.
He said it was concerning that the boy children were often neglected and side-lined. He said not enough was being done to address different issues that continued to affect boys and young men.
The programme shined a light extensively on Gender-Based-Violence and Femicide (GBVF) and the urgent need for young boys to be actively involved in conversations, awareness and their role in curbing the current alarming figures.
Chairperson of the forum, Motlatsi Khumalo said a more societal approach was needed to do away with vicious toxic masculinity and social ills affecting the boy child, which would have a huge impact on GBVF.
“Let’s give our young boys time to talk, let’s love them as much as we love the girl child. It is evident that they don’t have the right avenues and channels for them to voice their frustration and share their grief.
“This is why they grow up to be angry because it is impossible to solve the current issues without getting into the root cause.
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“We strongly believe that it is paramount that we focus on these young boys in order to change what we see with GBVF,” Khumalo added.
Various speakers conceded that access to information and opportunities was critical to teaching young boys how to behave and show them a life that doesn’t involve committing crime and where to go if they are faced with challenges.
Prosecutor at Kagiso Small Court, Rungulani Mhlongo said, “We receive cases of stabbings at schools and use of drugs which leads many of them to end up in prison at an early age. These boys are the ones giving us a problem at schools as they come with illegal weapons and drugs especially in the township, so we laud such initiatives that are very empowering to a black child.”
