The Department of Social Development says a one-year-old child of a South African woman who was born in a Senegalese prison has arrived in the country. The Department’s social workers arrived with the child this morning. The mother was arrested for drug trafficking last year and gave birth to the child a few days after her incarceration. The Department says the child will be taken into the care of her […]
LOCAL Tershia Louw, mother to 7-year old Diondré, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was an infant, says she is still learning how to care for her special girl. Louw sees herself as a strong individual, raising three other children – one of whom is an orphan – but she says she has learned to accept help. “I thought I didn’t need help. Then we heard about Iris […]
LOCAL Rylands Primary School has cautioned parents to remain vigilant, as police continue investigations into the kidnapping of Grade 2 student Abirah Dekhta. The eight-year-old was abducted from her scholar transport in Gatesville last Friday. At least two suspects reportedly boxed in her driver and robbed him, before fleeing with the child. An anti- kidnapping and extortion task force was recently formed in response to a spike in cases in […]
Civil society organisation Missing Children South Africa, says the country is losing the fight against human trafficking. The organisation was reacting to the recent kidnapping of eight-year-old Abirah Dekhta, who was allegedly taken by two armed men, while on her way to school in Gatesville in Cape Town. National coordinator at Missing Children South Africa, Bianca van Aswegen says it is a pandemic. “It’s literally a pandemic that we’re facing, with […]
LOCAL The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has been alerted to dubious health products being traded by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals. “The products as they appear on the World Health Organisation (WHO) product list are not registered for use in South Africa,” Sahpra said. The four products are Promethazine oral solution, Kofexmalin baby cough syrup, Makoff baby cough syrup and Magrip N Cold syrup. Sahpra said the […]
LOCAL The Commissioner for Children in the Western Cape, Christina Nomdo, says the continued violence against children is an indictment on South African society. This after the bodies of two children, aged four and eight, were discovered in separate incidents on Monday. Tamia Botha’s body was found at a nearby school yard in Paarl East while the body of an eight-year-old boy was found at Siqalo Informal settlement in Philippi. […]
LOCAL A four-year-old girl who went missing in Paarl in the Western Cape on Sunday was found dead on Monday afternoon. Police spokesperson Capt Frederick van Wyk said the girl was reported missing at the Paarl East police station at 4pm on Sunday. “A search party was arranged and on Monday afternoon scholars at a primary school found her body in the bushes next to the school's rugby field. The […]
By Ebraheem Fredericks The Child Justice Act of 2008 has been amended to increase the minimum age of criminal capacity for children in South Africa. The increase, from 10-years-old, means that children under the age of 12 cannot be convicted of a crime. A child between 12 and 14 years who commits a criminal offence is therefore presumed to lack criminal capacity unless the state proves beyond reasonable doubt that […]
INTERNATIONAL Israeli forces closed the offices of seven Palestinian civil society rights groups in the occupied West Bank in an overnight raid on Thursday. Al-Haq said Israeli soldiers stormed its offices in Ramallah, confiscating items, shutting down the main entrance with an iron plate, and leaving behind a military order declaring the organisation unlawful. Other groups raided included Addameer, the Bisan Center for Research & Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), the Union of Palestinian […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
