By Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo
The violence that South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens, the children, experience is often condemned, and calls are made for more punitive actions to be taken against the perpetrators. Yet, daily, we continue to see children being treated in the most harrowing and despicable ways.
In recent months, there has been a lot of reflection on the past three decades of freedom and the miracle that is South Africa, a miracle for a country that avoided a racially based violent transition route, thanks to, among many others, Nelson Mandela.
While a violent route was avoided, a lot of sticking points remained, sore ones, that have haunted Madiba’s nation in the past 30 years. We need to reflect on what South Africa has offered children in the past 30 years.
During the euphoria of the dawn of our constitutional democracy, crimes such as murder, abuse, rape, sexual and common assault were being committed against children. The state was violent, and the violence was felt across all levels of society, including children who could be shot for wanting an education that prepared them for the future. Thirty years on, it’s the same script. This time, it’s families and communities who have turned on children.
“Benzeni na?” What have they done to deserve this? What is clear is that adults have been talking for years about solutions that can, hopefully, end various violations against children. What has been missing is involving the same children being spoken about to play a central role in the decision-making and for them to tell us what they need from the adults tasked with creating the environments in which they live.
In this light, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund raised its hand to host this year’s edition of the Africa Children’s Summit (ACS). This is a gathering of 500 children, coming together in a hybrid summit that prioritises their voices and ensures that they end the summit with a strong outcomes statement mainly based on their focus during deliberations — Seen, Heard, Engaged in education.
This year’s summit will focus on education while addressing the myriad health and safety threats that millions of African children face, significantly affecting their ability to enjoy a quality education and success. The children elected to focus on education as they realised the dire state of lack of access to quality education and how even those with access battle to read and understand a simple text at the age of 10.
The delegates at the ACS, aged between 10 and 17, will consider the latest World Bank State of Global Education Update, which states that “9 out of 10 children in sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and understand”. The report further says that 70% of children face the same challenge globally.
The child-led summit, in August, will delve into what can be done to assist children battling to recover from missing school during Covid-19 and how to help them as they have forgotten the skills learnt.
In recent years, our constitutional democracy’s three decades have also highlighted the widening gap of inequality among children, particularly on key constitutional rights such as education – from key tenets such as access, affordability and quality.
A child born in 1994 is 30 years old this year. In the next three decades, as they approach retirement age, what will this child think of their six decades in democratic South Africa? What did the country greatly achieve regarding how it has been treating its children? Is it a better, safer South Africa with an improved education system?
We all envisage living in a prosperous country, especially our children. As the 30-year-old young adult looks into the eyes of those born after her, she does not need to despair about their future or worry that their existence in our nation will be littered with depressing scourges. The deterioration needs to be arrested,for the sake of our children.
Through the Department of Social Development, the private sector and various civil society organisations, the government does a lot of work to help and protect children, but is enough being done? We have to do better if the next generation of children is to experience a different South Africa.
Would we have created a South Africa that is safe for children in the places where they live, work and play? Would we be turning the corner in ways we wish to, or would we be beating the same drums, yet there is yet to be a definitive change?
We all envisage seeing happier, healthier children living in safe spaces, and each one of us is responsible for creating the safe spaces for the children within our sphere of influence. We dare not fail them. In the next 30 years, we will be the elderly at their mercy, and the way we treat them now will come back to haunt us.
Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo, CA(SA), PhD, is the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund