Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-05-14

CHAIRPERSON: That's all I have to say.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Ann. Are there any comments or   questions from my panellists? Mr Dlamini?

MR DLAMINI: Thank you, Mr Chairman. Maybe my question

MR DLAMINI: might not be quite relevant to your hearings, but as Ann was   sharing with us her experiences I was quickly reminded of the children that   we normally see in the streets. The temptation is there to think of those children   as delinquents who have run away from home because they don't want to subject   themselves to their parents. But Ann, from your experience how many of those   children, what percentage of them, possibly could be the victims of violence,   the displaced children who have no homes, who are separated from their parents   and the rest of the family because of the violence that has been taking place   in our communities?

WITNESS: I think there are child care workers in this audience   who are probably more equipped than I to answer that, but having followed the   press in the last few years it is clear that many of the children on the streets   of Durban have been displaced from their communities by the violence, and have   ended up coming to Durban to take shelter. I personally know of two or three   from the north coast whose families asked them to please leave because their   presence and their political activity

MR DLAMINI: /were

MR DLAMINI: were bringing unwanted attention to the family, and their only   option - given the poverty of their family they could not be sent away, there   was no one to send them to, and they had to literally take to the streets and   hope that social workers would find them a place to stay, which is an awful   solution for a family and children to have to come to. I think that the other   factors - the violence in general has destabilised rural communities in this   province. I think in other provinces, where the violence and police harassment   was happening in the townships, children were often sent to the farms for safekeeping   with

MR DLAMINI: the rural families. However, the rural areas here in this province   have never been safe, and those children end up having nowhere to go, it being   too dangerous to stay at home in the township and it being too dangerous to   stay in the rural areas, and they have been displaced to the streets of our   cities. But I think the stress on family life created by the constant pressure   of the violence in this province cannot be underestimated. We've heard mothers   in Bhambayi saying that they are literally too tired to take care of their children,   even now in 1997, because their minds are full of the violence and they have   no hope for the future. So they are not able to give that emotional nurturing   and support to their children years after the violence has finished, because   they have never received support, they have never received any place where they   can feel safe enough to deal with their emotions so that they are emotionally   available for their children. And it would not be surprising to me that the   children of such depressed mothers would end up running away from home, because   at home they are being neglected because

MR DLAMINI: /their

MR DLAMINI: their mothers are too depressed and too sad to take care of   them.

MR DLAMINI: Probably again this might be an unfair question, but if somebody   were to ask you that what are the most essential resources that we need to start   addressing this problem what would you say, Ann?

WITNESS: I think first and foremost   that, as the adults that are in a sense the representatives of our society,   we need to acknowledge to young people what has happened to them. We actually   need to admit to ourselves that we have millions of children who either have   left school, or are reaching the end of

MR DLAMINI: schooling, and there are no jobs for them to go to. We have   to acknowledge that. We cannot wait for the RDP and the Makro Economic Plan   to come up with economic growth. They are unemployed at the moment. They are   at a loose end and not knowing where to go with their futures at the moment.   I think the previous speakers spelt it out clearly. They wanted training. They   wanted skills training. They want youth programmes. They want the Youth Commission   to do something about their problems. They want youth centres, where recreational   and intellectual development opportunities are available in their townships,   because they don't have money to travel to town and visit the museums, and so   on and so forth, here. Many of them left school at a very early age, and intelligent,   interested, intellectually stimulated youth are walking around with standard   five or standard seven education, with no one to recognise their potential.   Other countries have increased the schooling available so that ex-combatants   can go back to school and be educated with people of their own age, not sitting   25-year-olds in

MR DLAMINI: /the same

MR DLAMINI: the same classroom as 15-year-olds. They want proper adult   education programmes whereby they can complete their schooling and go forward   to fulfil their intellectual development. I think that the demands are very   simple and very practical, but the many - much of the psychological relief would   come from having these problems acknowledged, and having them on the debate   and on the agenda.

CHAIRPERSON: Thanks, Ann. Dr Magwaza.

DR MAGWAZA: I have one short question for you, Ann.   I think one of the feelings is that because of the extent and nature of violence   in our region people are tending to

DR MAGWAZA: under-report the violence that's affecting the children, and   that there is a lot of desensitization, and that we are not getting a complete   picture of the extent to which children are violated. Can you make your comment   on that one?

WITNESS: I would strongly agree with that. I don't think it's just children   who are being under-reported. I think the extent to which community life and   family life has broken down, and the extent to which people are dispersed and   detached from their support networks, means that often there's no one to tell   the story, and there's no one to pass on the news. Any person - any NGO, any   social worker, or any person living in a rural area has horror stories to tell   of how people are still suffering now, and the kinds of - it might not be the   political violence that is still happening, but the violence that has started   to happen within communities, and within families, as people turn their pain   and anger on each other, is something that never gets reported, and it's reached   quite horrendous proportions. But if you are poor, and if you are living far   away from the city, and if  /there

DR MAGWAZA: there are no telephones and there's no NGOs, and there's no   one to notice, this violence just carries on week to week, month to month, year   to year, and I don't think we begin to understand how many people are still   living in very difficult circumstances as a result of this kind of violence.   I have been shocked to find out how many people are still refugees in this province,   are still living in temporary, unsatisfactory and dangerous shelter, two, three,   five, seven years after they were thrown out of their communities, and where   the local community leaders are still refusing to allow them to return home,   and still

DR MAGWAZA: threatening violence and death if they do return home. We are   so many years down the road to transition and these things are still happening   in this province.