In a service delivery oversight visit to Lavender Hill on Friday 11 February, Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu heard the emotional pleas from residents who said they are living in fear and pain.
The visit was a commitment made by the
Parliamentary Constituency Office of MP Marie Sukers.
Speaking on behalf of Lavender Hill High, Leticia Campher, told Zulu that she was the only school counsellor to 1 300 learners.
“As a counsellor the cases that you deal with are sometimes small but sometimes there is rape and abuse and robbery. Just yesterday (Thursday 10 February) I had a learner in my office who was robbed.”
She added that more school counsellors were needed as one person for 1 300 children is too much.
“Sometimes I can’t breathe because the learners are waiting and there are learners that I don’t get a chance to speak to.
“We had an attempted suicide incident because I wasn’t available, I was with another learner. We need counsellors in schools.”
Teacher Janet Felix said learners face many challenges that cannot be resolved by counsellors and teachers alone.
“We are in emotional turmoil every day coming to this school. Our learners are affected by all these problems. We, as educators, cannot solve the problems but we can try. We have so many learners who need a counsellor. It is terrible for us as teachers to stand and teach the child and you know the child is going through emotional turmoil.”
Ayakha Tono, from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, said it was very sad what children faced in Lavender Hill.
“It is very sad that we are here today and from what we have heard, children being killed. Children not being able to express themselves.
“You know minister, it is so sad not to have a facility to go out and express ourselves. Whether it be a soccer player or whether you are a musician, you can’t go out and express yourself.”
Speaking passionately and emotionally, Tono called for police officers to get more training.
“I must emphasize on this, it’s so sad to go to a police station as a boy child and reporting that ‘I have been raped’ and a police officer laughs in your face.
“There has to be a workshop for the police so that they are taught how to deal with issues like this. If it’s a rape matter and a police officer comes and tells me ‘what were you wearing?’ – that is the problem – because it doesn’t matter what you are wearing if a one-year-old child is raped.”
The young woman wiped away tears as she continued.
“The other issue is education, the same teachers that we have to go to is the same teacher that says you will never amount to anything. It is about time that our teachers are taught how to deal with issues, not only counsellors should be dealing with these issues.”
Mark Nicholson, Director from Lavender Hill Sports and Recreational Foundation, says part of the biggest problem in the area is policing.
“Our children are being murdered, just yesterday they found a body and we cannot understand why these people are being let out of prisons. Every time a gangster comes out of prison then the shooting starts again.”
Nicholson added that children were afraid to walk to school because of gang violence.
“Our children are suffering, currently most of our youth are too scared to go to schools because of borders.
“There are borders that has been placed by different gangs here, these gangs are living on the Cape Flats and that is part of the reason our people are suffering.”
Nicholson said there were no sports facilities available for children and the youth.
“Currently I’m working with more than 300 children in a field that is called the ‘battle field’.
“We are currently sitting at Lavender Hill High School, there’s a big sports field here at the back on this premises but we cannot use it due to red tape.
“Our children are becoming drug addicted due to the fact that there are no sports facilities even made available for them. We have probably three social workers working in the whole of Lavender Hill.”
MP Sukers said the Cape Flats was in critical need of help.
“In hospitals they work with the Triage system, where the most critical patient get the attention first from doctors. Red means it is critical, they need first attention.
“Yellow means that person can wait a little bit longer and is not as critical. Green means that if you arrive at hospital that they will send you back to the clinic or you can sit and wait.
“Socially Lavender Hill, Steenberg, Seawinds and the Cape Flats is red on the map of South Africa.”
Addressing the community Zulu praised South Africans for their resilience.
“We must look at what we can do more and what we must not do. What I think is very important is that we cannot work without strong community organisations.
“The most important thing we have to do is strengthen the local communities. Strengthen the organisations, strengthen the people who are your leaders so that we empower them.”
