LINDA NCUBE-NKOMO | What has SA offered to our children in the past 30 years of freedom?

The violence that SA’s most vulnerable citizens, the children, experience is often condemned, and calls are made for more punitive actions to be taken against perpetrators. Yet, daily, we continue to see children in SA being treated in the most harrowing and despicable of ways.

In recent months, there has been a lot of reflection on the past three decades of freedom and the miracle that is SA, a miracle for a country that avoided a racially based violent transition route, thanks, among many, to Nelson Mandela.

While a violent route was avoided, there are still a lot of sticking points, sore ones, that have haunted Madiba’s nation in the past  30 years. There is not enough column space here to regurgitate all of that, yet we need to reflect on what SA has offered children in the past  30 years.

During the euphoria of the dawn of our constitutional democracy, crimes such as murder, abuse, rape, sexual and common assault were being committed against children. The state was violent and this violence was felt across all levels of society, including children who could be shot for wanting an education that prepared them for the future. Thirty years on, it’s still the same script. This time, it’s families and communities who have turned on children.

Benzeni na? (What have they done to deserve this?) What is clear is that adults have been talking for years about solutions that can hopefully end various violations against children. What has been missing is involving the same children being spoken about to play a central role in this decision-making and for them to tell us what they need from the adults tasked with creating the environments in which they live.

In this light, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund raised its hand to host this year’s edition of the Africa Children’s Summit (ACS). This is a gathering of 500 children, coming together in a hybrid summit that prioritises their voices and ensures that they end the summit with a strong outcomes statement mainly based on their focus during deliberations – Seen, Heard, Engaged in education.

This year’s summit will focus on education while also addressing the myriad health and safety threats that millions of African children face, significantly affecting their ability to enjoy a quality education and success. The children elected to focus on education as they realised the dire state of lack of access to quality education and how even those with access still battle to read and understand a simple text at the age of 10.

Delegates at ACS, aged between 10 and 17, will consider the latest World Bank State of Global Education Update, which states that “ nine out of 10 children in sub-Saharan Africa cannot read and understand". The report further says that 70% of children face the same challenge globally.

The child-led summit, to be held in August, will delve into what can be done to assist children still battling to recover from missing school during Covid-19 and how to help them as they have forgotten the skills they previously learned.

Our constitutional democracy’s three decades have also highlighted in recent years the widening gap of inequality among children.

A child born in 1994 is  30 years old this year. In the next three decades, what will this child, as they approach retirement age, think of their six decades in democratic SA? What did the country greatly achieve regarding how it’s been treating its children? Is it a better, safer SA with an improved education system?

We all envisage living in a prosperous country, especially our children. As the 30-year-old young adult looks at the eyes of those born after her, she does not need to despair about their future or worry that their existence in our nation will be littered with depressing scourges. 

Through the department of social development, the private sector and various civil society organisations, the government does a lot of work to help and protect children, but is enough being done? We have to do better if the next generation of children is to experience a different SA. Will we have created a country that is safe for children in the places where they live, work and play? Will we be turning the corner in ways we wish to or will we be beating the same drums, yet there is yet to be a definitive change?

We all envisage seeing happier, healthier children living in safe spaces and each one of us is responsible for creating those safe spaces for the children within our sphere of influence. We dare not fail them! In the next thirty years, we will be the elderly at their mercy and the way we treat them now will come back to haunt us.

• Dr Ncube-Nkomo is the  CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund