The last week has been extremely emotional for us South Africans, specifically parents.
Human Trafficking, Murder, and Rape have become the everyday topics that we discuss with friends, family and work colleagues. But that’s not all. RACE is always the highlight of the topic instead of the actual problems that we are facing as a country.
The murderer was “Indian”, or the rapist was “White”.
Does that matter when we are facing a bigger problem right now?
Did you know that approximately 64 children are sexually assaulted each day in South Africa?
Let that sink in a for a minute…
64 children of ALL RACES who are sexually assaulted EACH DAY!
This is based on the reports that have made it to the police – SAPS 2017/18 figures.
This is the reality in South Africa.
It isn’t safe.
We are a fragile country that needs to stand united otherwise we will shatter into pieces.
The Dros incident was a huge shock for the entire country because it made us realize that our kids are not even safe in restaurants anymore. But with that, it also made me realise that we as a country still have many open wounds.
Open wounds which we look for a moment to expose.
We need to stop using the race card as an excuse for people’s actions. It does not mean that because someone is white they are not capable of raping or killing someone.
Rape is not an issue about RACE.
Murder is not an issue about RACE.
Stop believing that it belongs to one race over the other.
Rape is a PERSON.
Murder is a PERSON.
A PERSON who doesn’t deserve to live amongst us.
As a mother of 3, I have been having restless nights.
Every time I look at my 6-year-old daughter laughing and smiling, I think about how that precious little girl’s childhood was destroyed in a minute.
Growing up, my mom told me: “Shan, you should always greet and smile at the people around you.”
Today, I am teaching my daughter about how the strangers around us can be the monsters we used to be afraid of in the dark.
MONSTERS who are people. Not a specific RACE.
Please don’t let this be about race…
Remember who we are fighting for and why.
We are fighting for an innocent girl who lost her smiles and laughter that day.
We are fighting for a mom and a young girl who needs a voice in their time of weakness to get justice.
We are fighting so that we can protect other women and children in this country.
We are fighting so we can have laws changed and a more severe punishment.
We are fighting for all those victims who were never heard before this incident.
We have become bitter and angry as a country.
We are hurt and extremely disappointed in our government and our fellow South Africans.
We have a right to be.
But instead of just making noise, let’s work together towards making South Africa a better place for our children to grow up in.
I don’t want to leave this country, do you?
I think that if we stood as a country, as a people, and treated every child like our child, every smile as a precious gift. If we stood together and looked out for each other. If we loved instead of hated, then perhaps we have a chance of rebuilding and repairing.
Instead, we sit back we judge, we moan, groan and complain. It’s someone else’s problem, ‘someone else’s pain…
A woman in Cape Town has a flat tyre, and instead of being assisted, she is murdered. An innocent child who wants to prove that she is a big girl, goes to the toilet alone, and loses her innocence, a family at home cannot guarantee safety, a society that does not know their neighbours, people who live in self-made prisons. Not just physically but emotionally!
Along with the burglar bars on our houses, we have put gates on our emotions and sometimes I think also on our brains.
We start thinking about the most mundane things and yet that which is more serious gets lost in the process.
