Fixing our families is the key to reducing crime in our communities, says Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the GOOD Party, Patricia de Lille. “Violence and disrespect in our homes is the breeding ground for crime. The officials of Mitchells Plain Crisis Line mentioned that when children are exposed to ongoing family violence of whatever form, they tend to internalise it and thereafter act it out in schools, relationships and the broader community. “We can put 10 members of the police on every street, but they could do little or nothing to stop what goes on behind closed doors,” Aunty Pat said. “Yes, we need more police, who are better trained and less corrupt. But we also need social workers and psychologists, community leaders and NGOs. We need to fix our families, which are our foundation stones.” Uncle Willie Simmers is at the Mitchell’s Plain Community Advice and Development Project. He’s been serving his community since the Crisis Centre was established in the 1980s. He says the area has a reputation for gangsterism and drug abuse, but the most prevalent crime is domestic violence.
“Of course, we know that the rate of unemployment is a factor, and the high cost of living. Look how far people have to travel from areas like Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha to get to work. Debt is another major problem, which often leads to other crises like evictions. And then there are the drugs. The arcade in the Town Centre has been beautifully re-decorated… outside you find young girls standing with their babies asking for money,” Uncle Willie says.
Geraldine Young heads an organisation called Mitchells Plain Crisis Line. A social worker and veteran community activist, she said: “Many people don’t realise that a child of two or three-years-old may be playing in the corner, or the next room, but the child is listening to everything the parents are arguing about. Abuse in the family takes different forms, Young said, including verbal, emotional, psychological, financial, physical and sexual abuse. “We made a banner last year but it was too small to accommodate the names of all the victims of gender-based violence.” Her colleague, social worker Buyiswa Ngewu, said when families are unstable children tend to adopt anti-social behaviour. “Children generally regard whatever their parents do as good or acceptable behaviour. However not all children who come from unstable homes become abusive adults,” she said. Mitchell’s Plain recorded the highest number of domestic violence complaints in the Western Cape in 2018/2019 with 3155 cases, followed by Delft (2071 cases), Harare (1716) and Knysna (1620). Western Cape MEC for Community Safety Albert Fritz admitted in January that the province was non-compliant with the Domestic Violence Act. He also admitted that while some areas had very poor records in serving protection orders in cases of domestic violence in 2018. In Atlantis, for example, just 38% of protection orders were served. According to official crime statistics, 2771 women were murdered in 2018/2019; that’s seven per day. The number of children killed in South Africa was 1014, or three per day. Police also investigated more than 24000 sexual offences against children, 1184 cases of attempted murder, 7815 cases of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm and 10829 cases of common assault involving children. The figures don’t account for the many incidents of family violence that go unreported… “Ideally, the family provides a safety net,” wrote UWC academic Nicolette Roman in a study on the root causes of violence in South Africa. But it was often in families that children first witnessed violence, suffered neglect and were exposed to ill-treatment. “Adults, especially parents, may withdraw their love and be uninvolved in children’s lives. This can result in various behavioural problems in children, such as mental illness or aggression. “Such deviant behaviour can become a way of life for the affected children. In the absence of effective interventions, these behaviours spill into schools, personal relationships, work and the rest of society.”
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