Boyd Webb
The government is determined to pump resources into its flagging moral rejuvenation project after hearing that a growing number of children are committing serious crimes, including murder and rape.
A report recently presented to President Thabo Mbeki and ministers at the mid-year cabinet lekgotla by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula indicated that even young girls were now behind bars for murder.
"I raised the matter at cabinet, a big problem – where children are involved in the perpetration of violent acts, against peers, teachers and other members of society," Nqakula said at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday.
This problem was brought into "very, very vivid relief" by last week's rampage by a Krugersdorp schoolboy who allegedly murdered a fellow pupil and seriously injured others, he said.
At the end of May this year, 3 478 children were being detained across the country for various crimes.
Of these, 886 children had been sentenced for committing the "top six" crimes of murder, rape, serious and violent assault, aggravated robbery, housebreaking and theft, Nqakula said.
"By the end of May there were 80 children in detention, including five girls, who are serving sentences for murder," he said.
At the same time, there were another 130 children, four of them girls, who were awaiting trial on charges of murder.
There were also 115 boys who had been sentenced to prison terms after being convicted for rape, while a further 178 were still waiting trial on rape charges.
Nqakula said the lekgotla agreed that there was an urgent need to plough more resources into the country's moral rejuvenation project to try reverse the worrying trend.
The minister warned it was not only the government's responsibility, but also that of parents.
"We actually must deal with the character of the children that we are bringing up and that responsibility resides with parents."
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation on Monday released its second of six government-requested reports on what is causing the violent nature of crime in South Africa.
Senior researcher David Bruce said an uncaring and crime-hardened society was responsible for the increase in crime levels.
He said South Africans were too ambivalent towards crime and the law.
Children were being exposed to crime as a result of inadequate child-rearing and youth-socialisation facilities.
Bruce also criticised government ministers and community leaders for not being outspoken enough in their condemnation of crime and violence in society.
Government leaders, including Mbeki and Nqakula, in the past came under heavy criticism for seeming to not accept that crime was a serious concern to South Africans.
More recently, however, the crime situation has been identified as deserving priority attention.
Meanwhile, Deputy Justice Minister Johnny de Lange, who is heading the government's review of the criminal justice system, said all provinces were busy auditing about 11 000 awaiting-trial prisoners who were behind bars because they could not afford to pay bail.
He said the audit, which began a fortnight ago, would be concluded within weeks.
It was hoped that these detainees could be released from detention, thus freeing up space in overcrowded prisons.
"Effectively, all these people are seen as fit to return to society by magistrates but can't do so because they can't pay bail," De Lange said.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on August 26, 2008
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
