Future of crime faces no-hope youths

File picture: Andy Katz

File picture: Andy Katz

Published May 31, 2016

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Pretoria - Pretoria is raising a generation of children who act first and think later - in fact, experts estimate there is about 5 000 of these urchins in the capital.

They will attack, steal, injure and murder without a second thought, and will ultimately sink the city into disaster if they are not shown the right way.

These children are growing up with lack of love, guidance and protection.

Strategies to rein these young people in should have been the focus of Child Protection Week, observed from May 29 to June 5.

“These children are generally ignored, and when attention turns towards them, they are made to feel like nuisances, and that hardens them,” Yolande Singleton of Tshwane Child Welfare said.

The children are homeless, living on the streets and in other informal settlements.

“Some live in rubbish dumps, forests, parks and in the old and abandoned buildings of the city. They have no one to guide them on the behaviour that makes them a part of normal society,” child behavioural specialist Dr Sandy Morgan said.

Morgan explained that if left unattended, the young developing mind missed the lessons on boundaries.

“They are a lost generation,” she said.

Gauteng Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said: “This year we are focusing on responding to specific social ills like sexual and physical abuse and child neglect, and will pay attention to lack of access to education.”

But the government had to dig deeper than that if it wanted to hand the country into the hands of a capable generation, Morgan said.

By visiting formal homes and schools and handing uniforms and education packs to established communities, the government was excluding young people who were starved for intervention.

Morgan said young people slipped through the cracks from the age of five upwards, mainly due to neglect and trauma suffered at the hands of parents, caregivers and other grown-ups.

“Studies have shown that a cross-section of the lost children of Pretoria have been victims of emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse,” she said.

She explained that the role of caregivers and parents was to regulate the experiences children went through by providing warm, sensitive care, protection, reassurance and love. Failure to do this means they grew up without cognisance of the consequences of their actions.

“They make up rules as they go along.”

According to Singleton, attachment was the foundation of any child’s mind.

“They need attachment to thrive, feel worthy and recognise they can be responsible and able to achieve,” she said. Emotional neglect left a gaping hope in their souls.

“They constantly seek fulfilment and will go for what they want without considering right or wrong, or if it hurt anyone else,” she said.

Singleton said neglected children were very impulsive and risky, had poor impulse control and completely acted on instincts.

“This is because there are no boundaries or limits; they are constantly in survival mode. They will do anything to survive, even if at the cost of someone else’s life.”

Some become criminals lurking in the shadows of Pretoria or standing at traffic lights begging for attention.

“The younger ones can still be rescued and placed in more enabling environments that allow them to thrive as young people should,” Singleton said. But once they were on their own for long and were hardened by the harshness of life, rehabilitation was needed.

“State and private facilities should be available for these young people, in whose hands the future of the capital city and the country lies.

“It is the spirit of ubuntu that can salvage what is a horrific situation,” Singleton said. She added everyone had a role to play in providing love and care for the children of Pretoria.

To mark International Children’s Day on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma will be at Kingdom Life Children’s Centre in Atteridgeville and later join the crowds at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

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