Moot community takes action against school bullies

The Moot community has taken it upon itself to tackle bullying, a major problem at certain schools in 2024 with certain incidents widely reported and parents worried that no programmes were in place to help the learners.

Through the initiative of the Villieria police station under the leadership of Warrant Officer Marinda Austin several schools have been visited and learners enabled to stand up against bullies.

The police were supported by several role players in the security and the counselling sector.

The team consisted of the SAPS Villieria Social Crime Prevention and Communication Department. Villieria CPF, Kilnerpark Security, Brinant Security, Proshield Security, Lifeline, and the Child Protection Hotline.

“A bully prevention project is vital for me as a police official because it helps protect vulnerable children, prevent future crimes, and build a safer more supportive community where every child feels heard, valued and safe,” emphasised Austin.

The Protect Your Heart Bully Project ran from February 24 to 28 at several schools in the Moot.

The team visited the following schools during the project:

– Primary Schools/Laerskole: Villieria, Voorpos, Totiusdal, Queenswood, Kilnerton, Lerato, Eduplex, Derdepoort, Pierneef, Curro, Lindopark and Rietfontein-Noord.
– High schools: HTS John Voster, Clapham, Transvalia, FH Odendaal, Oos-Moot, Eduplex
– Special needs: Via Nova, Sonitus

A compelling play was presented at the schools with the message “Protect your own heart and the heart of your friend” focusing on the emotional and physical impact of bullying.

Through scenes in the play, it was highlighted how bullying can damage a child’s confidence, mental well-being, and sense of safety.

“The message was the protection of your own as well as the hearts of others, standing strong, seeking help, supporting each other, being respectful and loving yourself,” explained Austin.

She believes no one has to face bullying alone.

“We had to show the learners help is always available from teachers, parents, counsellors, as well as the police.”

She explained that learners were not invited to come forward publicly to ensure their identity and safety were protected.

“I did explain they must go to a teacher; the teacher will contact me and I will assist. My prevention plan for a bully is to get the parents involved, offering guidance and connecting them and the child with counsellors,” added Austin.

Ancelize van der Kooi, spokesperson for Kilnerpark Security, said the outreach to schools had a very strong message.

“It also conveyed that we stand up as several companies and stand together against bullying behaviour. We encouraged the schools to join hands with us and reach out for help for victims and also for bullies. Each school welcomed us with open arms and fully supported the project,” said Van der Kooi.

She said she feels very sorry for learners as there is less time to be a child today than there was when she was growing up.

“Children are thrown into schoolwork and sport. Then there are also the challenges of friends, developing their own personalities and finding identity,” she said.

“We as parents are so busy keeping our heads above water with rising living expenses that we are no longer always so focused on every detail of our children’s lives. The onus is on us as parents to push our children through, assist and spend more time with them to ensure we grow strong adults,” Van der Kooi said.

Danie van Loggerenberg, spokesperson for the National Child Protection Hotline, was also part of the project.

He said the worrying trend at the moment is that bullying is becoming bigger and bigger.

“We are only seeing public outrage when bullying leads to suicide. Most schools are taking a stance that bullying does not happen at their school. Thus telling children they are not really being bullied, cutting off their one option of speaking out, especially if a child feels too shy to share or ask for help from their parents,” he explained.

“The rise in cyberbullying means a child carries a device where a bully has 24/7 access to them. Not just with typed messages, but also images being taken and circulated, as well as, created or fake images.”

He has observed that physical bullying turns into fighting and due to the videos and images children see online, they are more violent than what the organisation saw a few years ago.

“Some social media platforms also romanticise suicide and we have found AI bots encouraging children to commit suicide, sharing that it is an option out of whatever difficulty being faced,” he said.

He advised parents to communicate with their children.

“Once you feel something is wrong, ask the question about bullying. Do not leave your child to fight these battles on their own,” he pleaded.

The Moot intervention came at a time when Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube revealed that 548 cases of bullying have been reported in South African schools since the start of the academic year on January 15. Limpopo led with the most cases.

Gwarube divulged this in a parliamentary response in the last week of February.

According to the minister, Limpopo had 305 reported incidents of bullying, North West had 78, Eastern Cape stood at 68, KwaZulu-Natal (29), Mpumalanga (26), Gauteng (23), the Western Cape (11) and Northern Cape (7). Only one case was reported in the Free State.

Austin advised learners to use helplines found on www.ineedhelp.co.za, bully.co.za as well as www.everychildmatters.co.za.

Learners, victims, teachers and parents can phone the National Child Protection Hotline on 076 900 7151 for more information.

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