Mataffin children’s plight revealed
The hardships faced by the youths in Mataffin came under the magnifying class this week during a workshop held at the Good Hope Community Centre last Wednesday.
MBOMBELA – The Christian-based non-profit organisation Dignity, with members of the Mpumalanga anti-human trafficking task team, met with boys from the community to find out more about their challenges.
Dignity’s Catherine Restiau and Sylwia Michalak introduced the delegates to the community. The boys were then split into groups. Each one received a drawing of an apple tree. At the roots they had to identify why kids were dropping out of school and at apples the consequences thereof.
Restiau said family problems were prevalent. “Domestic violence and sexual assault within families were reported by the children, as well as parents not caring about kids and what they did, and what time they came home. Poverty was also a major factor. As a result they have low self-esteem and give into peer pressure and do drugs.
“They suggested that a community centre would offer a solution. They want a place to come to play where it is safe, to have a soccer field, something to keep them busy so they won’t do bad stuff. They also wanted counselling to get advice from older people about their problems.”
Another major issue was that the children did not have identity documents. A social worker, who requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons, told Lowvelder that there were about 3 000 foreign children, who mostly come from Mozambique and Swaziland, in the area who were unable to attend school.
“The schools chase them away if they do not have an identity book. Some are being abused and trafficked in the area.”
She added that this was becoming a generational problem. “The young girls fall pregnant and then register the baby for a grant under a neighbour’s name. When the child grows up, we cannot find the neighbour who has the birth certificate.”
She added that some had foreign parents who had not registered their births. The foreign children, especially the boys, are being exploited to sell produce like mielies on the streets. They are also recruited into gangs to commit crimes such as burglaries.
“The children are small, so they can fit through burglar bars and windows. They open up for the adults and if they get caught they are underage.”
Children are also being used in the drug trade. Many of them are smoking nyaope and drinking. “Our biggest problem is the police,” the social worker said. “If we call them, they tell the people involved that we reported them and they come after you.”
She concluded that social workers were afraid to go into Mataffin as cases just vanished when they reported them or when the perpetrators were arrested they were released on bail the next day.
