“This hate image incites racism that almost all South Africans have fought so hard to eradicate,” the director of Women and Men Against Child Abuse, Miranda Jordan, told the weekly Sunday Times, which used the photograph on its front page.
We were asked to comment on an image sent to us which was then pubished with our comments on the front page of the Sunday Times, Aug 29. As a result, authorities in South Africa are investigating the sickening image posted on Facebook of a white man with a hunting rifle and a big grin kneeling in a classic hunter’s pose over his “prey” – what appears to be the lifeless body of a black boy.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has ordered an investigation into the matter and asked the man in it to come forward and declare whether the picture is a fake or has been doctored.
Other media associations have come forward in protest that the image which has been in circulation for more than three years was exposed by them when it first surfaced. Others are arguing that it is merely a fake and should not have been printed by the Sunday Times – however WMACA is of the opinion that it does not matter how old this image is or whether it’s a hoax or not – what matters is that it is still circulating the social networks and been used by Face Book members without anyone reporting it to Face Book officials or the South African authorities and every effort must be made to charge the people who continue to distribute this hateful image.
WMACA reminds any South African who has viewed the picture and not fulfilled the obligation reporting it to the police in terms of the Children”s Act, would be equally culpable if the picture was genuine or not.

Beitbridge — Police have arrested a 32-year-old Bulawayo man for allegedly smuggling 21 children aged between one and 16 years into South Africa through an illegal crossing point along the Limpopo River.

Kenias Mhlanga of Magwegwe West in Bulawayo is facing charges of human trafficking and facilitating illegal migration.

It is understood the suspect took the children from Bulawayo and was taking them to Johannesburg claiming to have been hired by their parents.

(more…)

The Scarf Case or Serpie Fonds

Women And Men Against Child Abuse would like to thank John Robbie and his production team, Radio 702 for giving us time to tell the following story publically.

We would also like to thank listeners of the John Robbie show who sent letters of support and financial assistance for this child.

As a result of the first interview we did with John:

• WMACA has raised  enough money for the reconstruction surgery and therapy required by this child
• Listeners working for the National Prosecuting Authority responded and have initiated investigations
• A reconstruction surgeon responded and has this last Monday seen the child and is preparing to operate in her next school holidays
• The SABC, Gillian Pillay ran the story on national news (more…)

Francois Steynberg.

15 July 2011 | Mark Kinnear deputy editor of Lowveld Media comments on Francois Steynberg case

Every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. I am not saying so, the Constitution of South Africa says so.

The 10-year-old girl (see page 2) who was brutally attacked, physically and sexually assaulted and nearly killed in 2008 has therefore been failed by the State and the Constitution. She was maltreated and abused on that fateful night. But she was not protected from degradation since. The case against the accused has been dragging for almost three years and this week it was postponed for another eight months,
until March next year.

An expert in the field, who works with children like this every week of her life, says that such a case should not take longer than six months to complete.

For the past three years the child has, by order of the State, not been allowed to receive counselling. She has to testify eventually, in a court of law and has to be cross-examined by the defence. So in order for her testimony not to be softened or clouded, she may until then not receive psychological counselling with regard to the crime or the aftermath thereof.

Ironically, the accused was sent to a specialised institution for psychological evaluation after his arrest. It seems the state cared more for him as it even paid for his evaluation.
This little girl was removed from the room where she was sleeping, had her head bashed against a wall, was punched and strangled. She was sexually assaulted. Then her attacker tried to cut her neck with a pair of scissors, with such force that her windpipe was visible.

And she has not and cannot receive psychological help! The law is an ass.
Every child has the right not to be required or permitted to provide services that place at risk the child’s well-being, education, physical or mental health or spiritual, moral or social development. The Constitution says so.

By this time the court case should have been finalised. She should have been receiving the best help possible to cope with the terror of her past. Instead she is battling at school, her personality has changed – she is crying out for help through her behaviour and the State says, no. The State has prolonged her suffering by extending the case to possibly well beyond four years of the crime actually taking place.

A child should laugh, but justice should not be the joke.

28 July 2011 | SUGAN NAIDOO

POLICE found more than 3 000 shocking images involving children when they arrested a man at Port Shepstone Caravan Park last Thursday.

Brett Allen Steven (39), an apparently self-employed man, was arrested by the Family and Child Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit. He has been charged under Act 3/2009 Section 24(b) for possession of child pornographic material and possession of drugs.

The FCS unit in Port Shepstone is also investigating allegations that he has taken photographs of three young children, aged five-, seven- and 10-years-old, from the Port Shepstone area.

According to police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Zandra Wiid, Mr Steven had recently moved from the Izotsha area to the caravan park.

“When searching the caravan park and his previous residence in Izotsha, pornographic photographs of young children, DVDs, magazines and a quantity of heroin were discovered,” she said.

Investigating officers had seized laptops, a camera, memory sticks, a 3G card, printers and children’s underwear, she added.

Mr Steven appeared in the Port Shepstone Magistrates Court last Friday. The case was postponed to August 2 for bail application.

Regional Court Control Prosecutor Sohana Moodley said these were the most disgusting photographs she had ever seen.

“Graphic images of children involving adults and animals have been confiscated,” she said.

Anyone who has more information regarding this case can contact the commanding officer of the Family and Child Sexual Offences Unit, Captain Sunil Singh at 039 6887900.

Spanking won’t do it
Article By: Phoenix Miles
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:27

Corporal punishment reduces your child’s ability to develop emotional intelligence, assess a situation on the spot and change their behaviour to suit it, according to research conducted in both the USA and Canada.

The study also suggested that while children may comply with rules in the short term out of fear of punishment, they aren’t likely to develop the capacity to reason through why those rules exist and are likely to break them later on in life.

After it was recently revealed that a Joburg school was meting out corporal punishment, the results of this research offers up a stark and concerning motivation for why such punishment is banned in South African schools.

Students at Diversity High School filmed two instances of punishment, one in which a teacher used a piece of garden house to hit a Grade 8 child, while another showed a teacher using a chalk board cleaner to hit a the back of a student’s hand.

Reported in The Guardian, the research showed that the more corporal punishment was prolonged, the more likely the child would be unable to develop their executive functioning ability which incorporates emotional intelligence.