The SA government likes to dedicate days, weeks and even entire months to highlighting the plight of vulnerable groups such as women, children and the disabled.
On March 8, the country celebrates International Women’s Day when women’s achievements are recognised in a world where gender equality remains notably absent.
August has been designated Women’s Month, with a special commemoration on August 9 to mark the day in 1956 when 20,000 women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest pass laws. That month, and the day in particular, serves as a time to protest domestic and sexual violence against women and girls.
There is also the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, which runs during November and December each year.
Last, but not least, there is Child Protection Week, aimed at promoting the rights, safety, and well-being of children, which is observed from May 29 to June 5. In that week, the public’s attention is drawn to the “the critical need to protect children from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence”.
The violent onslaught against women and children highlighted in the crime statistics that come out each quarter is relentless.
Days before Child Protection Week started, the crime stats for the third quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year came out indicating that 273 children were murdered between October and December last year. Some 480 cases of attempted murder of children were opened and more than 2,000 children were assaulted with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Most crimes against children are committed by a caregiver.
At the end of last year, the DA highlighted that in the past six years, more than 106,000 rape cases and 22,000 sexual assault cases involving children were reported. This equates to 48 children being raped per day.
May was a tough month in terms of incidents of violence against children that were highlighted.
This publication ran articles on a 14-year old child dying after he and a 16-year-old were severely beaten by community members near Mqanduli for stealing bread and jam.
There were numerous reports of child rape including at schools, which are supposed to be places of safety.
But there was also justice meted out to perpetrators of crime against children including to Raquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquin “Boeta” Appollis and friend Steveno van Rhyn, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking Smith’s little daughter Joshlin.
The late president Nelson Mandela, once famously said: “Our children are our greatest treasure ... Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.”
It follows then that South Africa’s social fabric is as shredded as the constitution’s vision of a better future for all.
It is time for us to all reflect, reimagine, repair and quilt together that torn fabric. For the sake of the children.
Daily Dispatch