Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi . Picture: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Lulama Zenzile An eight-year-old boy cries uncontrollably over the dead body of his father, trying to make sense of a cruel world. Hours later, a three-year-old is killed, likely while they slept, when gunmen storm an illegal tavern.
On the other side of the Gauteng province, a two-year-old burns to death as a water-starved community scrambles to find something to extinguish the flames. This is a snapshot of life in South Africa. Not only in December or in this last week, but every month, every week, and every day.
The Constitution demands that the state “respect” and “protect” all South Africans from “all forms of violence”. Yet, the brutal death of toddlers and the trauma seen by children on a daily basis are ignored by a government determined to gaslight everyone into believing they are not to blame. While officials are right that it is dangerous to jump to conclusions on thedeath of a Madlanga Commission witnessMarius van der Merwe, themass shooting at Saulsville Hostel, and theshack fire in Fochville, Gauteng; their dismissal of the smoke around the fire is alarming.
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Illegal taverns, non-payment for services, and municipal debts are major issues in the country. They are plagues that need to be addressed, but when children as young as two and three are dying government needs to stop playing the blame game and start looking at the role their negligence has played. Police waved away pleas from communities for more security and enforcement to stop illegal taverns, suggesting they need to follow proper channels to request assistance and then a decision would be made.
A police lottery of sorts. Meanwhile, the Merafong City municipality can’t deliver water amid a whopping R1.4 billion debt, but says the district municipality will investigate whether water can put out a shack fire. It is the public service’s motto of “go to the next window, this one is closed” in action. But perhaps the most shocking example of gaslighting was by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi in the wake of Van der Merwe’s death.
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