Fathers encouraged to take responsibility
“Being absent as a father figure leads to children doing bad things such as crime and drugs.”
Fathers from Mamelodi and surrounding areas were encouraged to be there for their children and show them love.
Father Fit for Generation and Vhathu Phanda community forum passed the message to fathers during the third annual Absent Father programme on Saturday.
The event was held at the Mamelodi East ext. 4 library under the theme “Father Love Revolution”.
Father Fit founder Siphomuzo Gama said his organisation in partnership with Vhathu Phanda aims to address the issue of fathers who don’t play an active role in their children’s lives and how to end the stigma.
The event was attended by local fathers, young men, Baviaanspoort prison officials and Vhathu Phanda.
Gama said he founded the organisation in 2020 to tackle social ills that could reduce crime and poverty.
“We want to encourage fathers to be present in their children’s lives and spend time with their children, because being absent as a father figure leads to children doing bad things such as crime and drugs,” he said.
Gama said the fathers and men who attended the programme signed a declaration to take full responsibility for their children.
“Spending time with children has a great impact on their lives.”
He said the absence of fathers is sometimes a result of divorce, death, or separation between the parents or culture.
“The absent are divided into two categories – physically absent and physically present but emotionally absent.
Thabo Moshabelo of Vhathu Phanda said they have partnered with different organisations to teach fathers to be present in their children’s lives.
“We have realised the absence of fathers does not necessarily mean the father is not there. We have fathers who ran away from their responsibility and fathers who stay with their children, but are not involved in their children’s lives leaving all the responsibilities to the mother,” said Moshabelo.
“We want to encourage men to be involved in their children’s lives and educate the community to prioritise the relationship between father and child.
“We want to educate young men because they are the fathers of generations to come,” he said.
He said they want young men to produce fathers that are fit for the generations to come, fathers that can take responsibility and even though they don’t work can take an interest in the well-being of their children.
A father Thabo Khobo said the programme was very informative and he learned a lot.
He said he was very happy to be there and learn about absent fathers.
“I will encourage men out there to be there for their children no matter how bad the situation is,” said Khobo.
Parolees who attended the programme advised young men about the life of crime and how they ended up doing crime.
Parolee Sipho Mohaule (45) said mostly they never had a father figure and that led them to do crime while others did not listen to their father’s advice.
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