World Street Children News :: South Africa Streetkid News

Four sentenced in jockey stabbing

Nomahlubi Sonjica COURT REPORTER

FOUR Port Elizabeth homeless people received suspended sentences yesterday for stabbing former jockey Quinton Boutell to death last year.

The accused, aged between 16 and 19, pleaded guilty to murdering Boutell for his cellphone, wallet and a pair of shoes.

Boutell , 52, and Debra Fleisman, 42, were walking home from the Blinking Owl Pub ‘n Grub in Newton Park, Port Elizabeth, when they were attacked by the four.

A 17-year-old boy, regarded as a minor, is to be sent to a reformatory school on the recommendation of a probation officer.

The three others, all girls, were sentenced to three years, suspended for five years, on condition that they were not convicted of robbery and that they co-operated with the social workers. They were warned to stay at home and not sleep on the streets.

They were also declared unfit to possess firearms.

 Knock on our doors, says MEC

    December 03 2007 at 10:51AM

By Sibusiso Mboto

Prostitutes and street children wishing to change their lives for the better need only approach the social development department, MEC Meshack Radebe said last week.

Addressing a function in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, Radebe said there were many opportunities for the children and prostitutes to improve their lives.

Recently, the Provincial social development department received a R24-million windfall from its national counterpart, a move that Radebe said was an acknowledgement that KwaZulu-Natal was doing well in community outreach programmes.

He said that some street children who had been removed from streets in KwaZulu-Natal had successfully embarked on business ventures.

"They must knock on our doors and tell us of the help they need," he said.

Radebe said that while the intention was to reach a wider section of the community, funding continued to be a problem.

He said some of the trips he had undertaken overseas could yield better results in the future, with more donor funds for the department.

Alleged child trafficker walks free

    December 01 2007 at 01:09PM

By Raffaella Delle Donne

Lured by promises of work and a new life in the big city, children as young as 13 are being brought to Cape Town from rural towns to work on fruit and flower stalls.

When they are not working, these children are prisoners in a Wendy house in the back garden of their employer. They are fed, but rarely paid.

Many run away and, alone in a strange city, take to the streets to join Cape Town’s brigade of street children.

Yet the man accused of abducting them walked out of court a free man after charges against him were dismissed.

Although the Children’s Bill, signed by the president in 2006, is a progressive law that deals specifically with child labour and child trafficking, it will come into effect either in 2008 or possibly 2009, leaving many children vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in the interim.

The man - known to the children as "Boere" - has allegedly been trafficking children from places like Upington and Mossel Bay to work at his fruit and flower stalls since 2006.

According to Sandra Morreira, director of The Homestead and chair of the Western Cape Street Children’s Forum, a number of boys released into their care claim Boere promised them work but they had run away because he did not pay them.

One of the boys, aged 14, from Mossel Bay, said he ran away because he was being kept against his will by Boere who had invited him for a weekend in Cape Town.

Fortunately, his parents reported him missing and a social worker at The Homestead was able to re-unite the family.

Earlier in November, Boere was arrested by Woodstock police and appeared in the Cape Town magistrate’s court on charges of abduction. In some instances, parents had given Boere their consent to bring the youth to Cape Town, so the charges were withdrawn.

Morreira is dismayed at the outcome and says, "He is now free to keep bringing in children who then end up on the street."

The police did not respond to Weekend Argus’s questions about the case.

The National Prosecuting Authority could not comment directly on the case or respond to the issue of why Boere was not charged with child labour.

However, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Bronwyn Pithey indicated that the matter was being investigated and that the docket would be re-opened.

According to the International Organisation of Migration, part of the problem is that the concept of trafficking is not widely understood or regarded as an urgent problem.

An IOM report suggests that due to a lack of statistics, some law enforcement officials have even gone so far as to deny that there is any human trafficking in South Africa.

Patrick Solomons, director of Molo Songololo, an organisation that campaigns for children’s rights, says because the current laws do not deal with trafficking specifically, offenders can be brought to book only through legal action related to common law and statutory offences.

Solomons says: "There is very little protection against child trafficking besides charging (perpetrators) for offences such as kidnapping, sexual assault and child labour."

According to the IOM, one of the main problems with relying on existing laws is that they do not adequately address the crime of trafficking, such as sexual exploitation, fraudulent employment recruitment and the exploitation of migrant labour.

Equally problematic is that current legislation does not account for all the individuals who participate, directly or indirectly, in the crime, such as, in Boere’s case, the parents who allowed him to take their children to Cape Town.

According to the department of labour, some of the worst instances of child labour occur where children are taken from rural households to work in urban areas.

Although commercial sexual exploitation of children is addressed in the Sexual Offences Bill, child slavery, forced labour and debt bondage, are not criminal offences.

Morreira welcomes the Children’s Bill and is confident that it will plug this loophole but is concerned about what will happen to children in the time it will take to be implemented.

"In the meantime people like him (Boere) are free to keep bringing in children who then end up on the street."

          o This article was originally published on page 14 of Cape Argus on December 01, 2007

Fifa draw, derby put Durban in tourism spotlight
David Christianson

DURBAN — This weekend’s Fifa 2010 preliminary draw in Durban gives the city first bite at positioning itself for the expected 2010 tourism influx, with thousands of local and international journalists and delegates flooding the city.

Provincial Premier Sbu Ndebele has said he regards the draw as a golden opportunity to market KwaZulu-Natal to the world.

It will also be SA’s first opportunity to showcase its preparations for the 2010 World Cup.

Peter Bendheim of Durban Africa, the city’s tourism agency, said yesterday that while official Fifa delegates and international journalists numbered about 3000, another 20000 visitors were expected.

“Every decent hotel room is sold out this weekend,” he said.

Durban has about 22000 hotel rooms and Bendheim said the influx would generate about R50m for the city.

Attractions this weekend include football matches in the city, including the Orlando Pirates-Kaiser Chiefs derby, the premier screening of the movie More than a Game and a beach party.

Local DA leader John Steenhuizen is worried that the event will be something of a “Potemkin Village”, amid allegations this week that the city’s metro police were removing street children from their beachfront haunts.

The term comes from 18th century Russian General Grigori Potemkin, who had a series of fake prosperous villages constructed to conceal the squalor of rural Russia during a tour by Empress Catherine the Great.

Street children, who have been linked to beachfront crime, were allegedly removed in a metro police operation this week and taken to homeless shelters.

One unnamed social worker was quoted in a local newspaper as saying some children had been charged with loitering and had been taken to Westville Prison outside Durban.

The newspaper also reported a notable lack of street children at robots.

Metro police spokes-person Thomas Tyala yesterday denied the allegations, saying that to the best of his knowledge there had been no such operation by his department.

Steenhuizen said the city needed a long-term solution to the problem of street children.

“This sort of thing has happened before, notably around the Common-wealth Heads of Government Meeting and the World Aids Conference.”

Steenhuizen suggested the street children would be best dealt with by providing grants-in-aid to local nongovernmental organisations, such as I-Care, which focus on rehabilitating the home-less.

Security in the city has been beefed up in all areas where activities around the draw will take place. These include the International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban International Airport, hotels and other tourist destinations.

The SA Police Service said yesterday that more than 1 000 extra “law enforcement officers” would be deployed across the province for the weekend.

Police reservists have also been called up to supplement the existing policing operations.

A beachfront resident said the area — where almost all delegates will be staying — has been ‘‘saturated” by police.

“You do not have to wait more than 30 seconds for a police van to drive past,” he said.

Where are Durban’s street children?

November 22 2007 at 10:21AM

By Sharlene Packree and Heinz de Boer

Durban’s usually bustling street child colonies have all but disappeared from the city after what is believed to be a major police crackdown ahead of this week’s Fifa preliminary draw.

City officials remain at odds over the fate of dozens of children, who are believed to have been rounded up by SAPS and Metro Police units before being taken to Westville Prison.

Social workers say this happened after the children and some adults with small children were charged for loitering and given fines they cannot afford. Some may spend up to 90 days behind bars.

‘The children were… handed over to social workers’

City manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe has however strongly denied the allegations, saying he would "never condone" such police action.

But Metro Police spokesperson Superintendent Thozamile Tyala, confirmed that beachfront children were collected by Metro Police in a routine operation.

"We always remove the street children from the beachfront. The children were taken to a place of safety and handed over to social workers," he said.

The Daily News visited several hotspots in Mahatma Gandhi Road (Point Road), Addington Beach, Blue Lagoon and Central Durban where street children are usually seen. There were no children in sight in any of these areas.

There were no children begging at traffic lights or along the beachfront. Adult vagrants at Addington Beach said the children had been rounded up over the weekend and collected by Metro police vans.

‘So where have they gone to suddenly’

A social worker, who asked not to be named out of fear of falling foul of city authorities and who works at a Durban shelter, said the children were picked up by Metro police and charged with loitering.

She said they were taken to Westville Prison.

"Hopefully this is the last time it happens. They can’t keep doing this to these children. We should find a permanent solution," she said.

Sipho Mabaso, who works with street children at the Sakhisizwe Reception Centre near Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment), said that on average there were 200 children living on Durban’s streets.

However, since Monday, Durban’s street children have disappeared from many of their popular city haunts.

"On average, we see about 5 or 10 children at the reception centre. I haven’t seen any of these kids since Monday," he said.

Mabaso said it was "very suspicious" that the children are nowhere to be seen at a time when there were international delegates and media in the city.

"Everybody knows street children are a problem in Durban. So where have they gone to suddenly?" he said.

Sutcliffe has meanwhile called on people with details of forced removals to bring forward evidence.

"Dealing with street children is a social welfare issue, and the Metro Police is not involved. We as the city will never be associated with that.

"It has been an issue discussed at the Joint Operations Centre, and police have been instructed to certainly take away their glue if they are seen with it.

"Obviously there is a heightened police presence now, so the street children tend to not hang out as much," Sutcliffe said.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of Daily News on November 22, 2007

08 Nov 2007 : Cape based organisation for street children seeks to expand

For the past year, Cape Town restaurant patrons have helped to give street children a new lease on life, simply by agreeing to add R5.00 to their table bill. And now, customers in Jo’burg and other South African cities may be able to do their bit for this worthwhile initiative simply by adding a few rands to their meal as the initiative known as StreetSmart announces its intention to seek a sponsor to go national. The concept was originally founded by two business people in London in 1998. It quickly caught on in a number of cities around the world including San Francisco and Melbourne. Local founder Margi Biggs “discovered” it when she ate at a London restaurant participating in the initiative. StreetSmart has been successfully adapted locally and was launched by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in May 2005. The concept has done well in Cape Town and there are 26 restaurants that are vigorously involved. Diners often do not even have to be asked whether they want to donate – they are more than happy to. The charities benefiting from the programme assist those living on the street by seeking to re-integrate and re-orientate them into society. According to Melanie Burke, a board member of StreetSmart South Africa, their projects were carefully chosen and have to be in line with the StreetSmart vision. ‘We identified and fund projects that are aimed at education, skills training and family reunification. Imperatives for us are that the charities must focus on personal development and rehabilitate and empower homeless youths so they can go on to be valuable members of their communities. ” she says. In addition to the restaurant fund raising, StreetSmart has a number of organisations that sponsor certain of their costs, as was the case with Specialized Tours & Events who sponsored StreetSmart’s start-up costs and will be sponsoring StreetSmart’s administration costs until the end of 2007. Its board members are also very involved in funding StreetSmart, and Melanie recently became a Local Hero when she successfully nominated the organisation to receive a R10 000 donation as part of Nedbank’s social responsibility programme. Says Melanie, “The R10 000 provided a big boost for us and will go towards our operational costs where it is needed most.” There have been countless others who have contributed and StreetSmart has to date been able to give over R450, 000.00 to its selected charities. StreetSmart is currently on the lookout for partners who will help them take the project nationwide. If you would like to find out how you or your organisation or restaurant can get involved you can visit their website at www.streetsmartsa.org.za or contact them by email on streetsmart@eqweb.co.za. Unless a national sponsor is found, this project will not run nationally.

Umthombo Street Children
From: OaktreeS4S
Street children in Durban, South Africa. For Schools 4 Schools.

http://www.umthombo.org/

Attacks on students on rise

    September 29 2007 at 02:21PM

By Christina Gallagher

A group of street children are being blamed for the increase in assaults and muggings of university students in Melville.

Nine robberies, some of them at knife-point, have been reported to police in 2007 by students of the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

In the most recent attack, on Thursday, a female UJ student was robbed off-campus by a young male armed with a knife.

Ward councillor Cindy Grobbelaar said street children - mainly youths from neighbouring Westbury and River lea - had been a problem in the area for the past five years.

Grobbelaar attributed the recent increase in crime to the collapse of a street child education programme earlier this year and also to the death last month of one of the ringleaders of the group.

"Lucky was the one who kept the youth in check," said Grobbelaar.

In recent weeks there has been a dramatic increase in attacks on university students.

Earlier this month a female student was robbed at gunpoint while walking to campus. A 14-year-old streetchild, who had a toy gun in his possession, was detained by campus security the following day after the robbery victim spotted him.

University spokesperson Sonia Cronje confirmed that the number of incidents of assault and robbery reported by students had increased this year.

Police crime statistics for the past year also reflect that cases of armed robbery in the area have increased.

Cronje said the university had made "extensive additions" to security services this year. But Roelof Hugo, the head of UJ protection services, admitted that resources were insufficient to protect all students in the area.

Surrounding businesses also appear to have been affected.

Manana Serote, the manager of McDonald’s in Melville, said the restaurant had been forced to erect a fence around its premises to keep the streetkids out.

"They were harassing our customers for money. Our security guards had to escort customers from the building to Campus Square across the street to keep them safe.

"If we hadn’t put up the fence, we wouldn’t have any customers," she said.

A student, who asked not to be named, confirmed that a group of 20 streetkids were often seen in the afternoons in front of the McDonald’s, and they were joined by more youths over weekends.

The recent redeployment of Constable Veli Mkhwanazi, a Brixton policeman who has worked closely with the streetchildren, was said to have left the group idle and contributed to the rise in crime.

"The constable used to organise activities for these kids," said Superintendent RDM Sithebe.

"We are busy looking for someone else to do this. We don’t just want to arrest the kids. We want to educate them too."

What is Street-child Consciousness?

 From: "Street Thoughts" on the Street Action website

Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement are a key part of a rich heritage of social thought in South Africa. Biko, who was killed by the apartheid state, recognised that oppressed people often internalise what their oppressors repeatedly tell them and impose upon them. You are lesser people, not as good as whites. Biko knew that a revolution would be unlikely to be led by people who had not set their minds free from this internalization. Black Consciousness was an awakening process for black people where they were able to see their total reality. It was a process of conscientization (sic) whereby black people came to realise that they too were human, were made in the image of God and had a responsibility to and the ability to resist the lie of apartheid. Black Consciousness thinking particularly appealed to the young people, particularly students and it was no coincidence that the 1976 Soweto uprising, which is often seen as the beginning of the end of apartheid, happened at a time where Black Consciousness was being embraced by young people. Neither was it a coincidence that Steve Biko was killed a year later.

The process of conscientization (sic), whereby oppressed people learn to see their own reality clearly has been a key foundation in many popular struggles. Becoming conscientized (Sic) invariably leads to a building of self-confidence and a sense of responsibility and resolve to change the situation for others. Revolutions are made when the “conscientized” joining together.

A group of former street children in South Africa has picked up some of the tools used in the fight against apartheid. Intimately in-tune with the reality of the street child experience, they have identified street children as an oppressed group within society. They believe that society’s actions towards street children, in Durban, on a daily basis such as verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, police round-ups and beatings and other degrading actions contribute to the argument that street children are not just vulnerable or marginalised but oppressed. Drawing from the inspiration of Steve Biko and local struggle icons such as Chris Hani and Nelson Mandela as well as the writings of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and the South African philosophy of Ubuntu, they have developed a philosophy called street-child consciousness (SC).

These former street children accept that street children too have internalized the messages imposed upon them from an oppressive society such as You are the rubbish of society, you are just the naughty children, you are the criminals of society, it is your own fault that you are on the streets, you deserve this, you are subhuman, you are animals that hunt in packs, you are a problem to the city, you spoil the image of the city, you are an embarrassment, you are a nobody, you don’t count, you are not a real child, you deserve to be chased away from the city, to be arrested, to be beaten by the police, you are hated and despised, you chose to come to the streets, you are a cheap sex object, you have no dignity, you are expendable, you are not one of us, you are the other. Therefore, if street children actually believe the lies imposed upon them they are unable to see their own reality clearly and lose their sense of humanity. They begin to see themselves as less than others, as second-class citizens. When this is the case, they also remain voiceless and the reality of the street child experience remains hidden.!

Street-child consciousness says that street children are human beings, as important as children in any other children. For people of faith this means that street children too are made in the image of God. The process of conscientization (sic) that Durban’s former street children have embarked on enables them to see their situation clearly and to re-envision themselves as human beings. It reminds them that even if they chose to come to the streets, it was because they did not have the full range of choices that children have a right to. SC says that you are not to blame for having been a street child. You were oppressed. SC says you are not nobody, you are somebody.

As the former street children become conscientized they become aware of the issue of street children as a social justice issue. They suddenly realise that they were victims but now they have the collective power to change the situation for other children. Conscientization inevitably leads to a sense of vocation towards changing the status quo. The former street children of Umthombo have vowed to lead a revolution in the way that street children are perceived and treated in South Africa. I have no doubt that this will happen. Fortunately for Durban, the former street children of Umthombo have developed a philosophy that is also influenced by the foundational South African philosophy of Ubuntu, which promotes a revolutionary style of forgiveness. As the former street children proceed on their quest, they are winning people over to the struggle all the time. Just recently, Sikhumbuzo Makhubela, spokesperson for Umthombo Street Children and a former street child from Durban, who was one of the children rounded up by police in 2001 for the World Conference Against Racism, was given a standing ovation by police after speaking at a community policing forum meeting. Thirty years since the death of Steve Biko, a group of former street children are using his tools to lay a foundation for the struggle for the liberation of street children in South Africa. There is great hope for street children in Durban. Forward with the revolution!

Tom Hewitt
Founder and Chair of Board Umthombo Street Children.
March 2007, Durban

Special Assignment Episode: BUNNY TOWN
Provided By: capetownbrown
This Special Assignment episode was aired in 2006 and exposes the fact that “bunnies” (pedophiles) prey on the “street children” of Cape Town each and every day.