Bullying is not a new occurrence, but new technology such as smartphones and Tik-Tok have raised its profile.
To our disgust, we see many of our children behaving just as badly as many of us adults do. What makes it particularly painful to observe is the level of violence – that mirrors the level of violence in our homes and communities, and across our society.
Bullying often has long-term impacts on victims' self-esteem and confidence, but can also have immediate devastating consequences as recently witnessed with the tragic death of young Lufuno Mavhunga in Limpopo.
Too many of our parents contribute to the cycle of violence by sending children to school armed and dangerous with toxicity and aggression that they learn in our neighbourhoods and homes.
Teachers are not generally responsible for teaching our children verbal abuse, disrespect, aggression or violence. We are!
We will never be able to fix the violence in our society without fixing the society, itself.
We cannot strive for justice for our children when our society is built on division, inequality and injustice. When the daily lived experience for many is the violence of poverty, scraping together enough food to barely feed your family, fearful of sending a child to the shop lest she gets attacked.
We need to fix the social, economic, spatial and environmental injustice that defines our nation.
When we do, when all young South Africans have equal opportunities to attain their dreams, when there is less hunger and there are more consequences for deviant behaviour, the levels of crime and violence in society will begin to decline.
In the meantime, we must find a way to get more social workers and counsellors into our schools to support learners and their families. And we must find innovative ways to help parents to manage the emotional and mental well-being of their children at home.
We cannot sit on our hands. If we do, we are all complicit.
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