Family closes ranks around recovering toddler following abuse incident caught on video

The mother of a toddler seen in a video being shoved around by a teacher at a Pretoria creche says the incident brought the family closer together.

Last week, shocking videos of the owner of Darwin’s Educational Playground Aftercare and her daughters allegedly manhandling and abusing children put child abuse and early childhood development (ECD) in the spotlight again.

This week, the Gauteng department of social development officially handed over the ECD function to the Gauteng department of education.

MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi announced that by next year, all primary schools in Gauteng will have early childhood development classrooms with proper learning materials.

The mother of the three-year-old blonde girl in one of the videos agreed to speak anonymously to protect the identity of her child.

“I saw the video on Facebook after a woman asked for help to report it. I contacted the woman who asked me for a photo of my daughter to verify if it was her in the video.

“When she sent me the video, I immediately recognised my child,” she said.

The mother said she had noticed her daughter’s behaviour changing. She was not wanting to go to school and crying.

“But she only cried for a little while so we thought nothing of it,” she added.

The little girl started attending the preprimary school in January 2020, and was removed on 25 April this year, when her mother saw the video on social media.

WATCH: Police investigating after teachers caught beating children at Pretoria crèche

“When I saw that video, I was livid because I left my child in their care thinking that she will be safe,” she said.

The mother said she also opened a case of assault on the same day. “Since we moved her to a new school, it’s as if she’s her old self again. She laughs and plays like before,” said the mother.

Dr Erica Munnik of the department of psychology at the University of the Western Cape said ECD was important because it was the phase in which a child was formed.

Munnik said constant abuse created a vulnerability in the child, affecting further development. She said a child who was only abused at school had a better chance of coping.

“It also depends on the child’s age. The younger the child, the more limited the child’s communication skills,” she said. Munnik said children also showed changed behaviour when they were being abused.

“A spontaneous child becomes either quiet and withdrawn or aggressive. Children react in two ways. They either internalise it and blame themselves or externally through their behaviour and often become naughty.”

Munnik said children also showed symptoms such as falling ill, getting tummy aches and not wanting to go to school.

Democratic Alliance shadow MEC of education Khume Ramulifho said there were regulations in place to regulate ECD centres.

”The biggest challenge is enforcing these regulations. They are only applicable to ECD centres that apply for funding from the government. Either local government or provincial departments,” he said.

Ramulifho said it would be difficult for the department of education to manage and oversee all preschools and ECDs.

“Especially when they are currently battling to deal with illegal or unregistered independent schools.”