By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert
As the Mitchells Plain community mourns the loss of yet another young life, the provocative question is, when will the brutal murders of young children end.
14-year-old, Naeema Marshall, from Beacon Valley was visiting family in Budhi Crescent, Eerste River on Monday afternoon when she was shot and killed by another 14-year-old boy, who made advances at her and when Marshall declined, the young boy followed her to her family home and shot her at close range.
Speaking to VOC Breakfast on Thursday morning, CEO at the Ihata Shelter, Nuraan Osman said this is a common occurrence and not much is being done to bring an end to abuse of such nature.
“Incidents like this happens too often, incidents where kids are killing kids. South Africans needs to catch a wake up and take note of what is happening. We have all these supporting structures, like marches, Tuesdays in black and all these wonderful initiatives, but what are we actively doing. What is the root cause of these incidents? We need to look at things on a deeper level,” Osman stressed.
When asked whether females are seen as lesser than men, Osman said entitlement plays a huge role in femicides, Gender based violence and child on child violence.
“We speak of freedom of speech and expression, but once you stand up for yourself, like Marshall, she was brutally killed, what does that say about our rights. Everyone speaks of having rights, but what about your responsibilities,” she continued.
Osman stressed that threatening others is easier than looking out for each other, and in the day and age we live in, many are just looking out for themselves, instead of others.
“We have become a society that is self-cantered and who only cares for themselves, back in the day communities looked out for each other. My children were your children and that was the glue that kept communities intact,” she added.
Osman reiterated what many others have said before, the South African Police Services (SAPS) are not doing enough to make sure that people who commit these crimes are held to account and that justice prevails.
“Just yesterday I dealt with a case where an abused female was so scared to reach out to SAPS. She told me that her abuser [her boyfriend] told her in no uncertain terms that he is not scared to be arrested as he will be released shortly, what does that say about our justice system,” she questioned.
Osman said communities should come together, to hold SAPS, community leaders as well as local government accountable for certain issues affecting their respective communities.
