Date: 05/09/2003
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Ramatlakane: Remembrance ceremony for missing/deceased children, Western Cape
EXTRACTS OF WESTERN CAPE COMMUNITY SAFETY MINISTER, LEONARD RAMATLAKANE'S SPEECH AT THE REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY FOR MISSING/DECEASED CHILDREN, 5 September 2003
(The Day of Remembrance Ceremony was held at the Bellville Town hall this afternoon under the auspices of the Bambanani Unite Against Crime initiative of the Department of Community Safety in conjunction with the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry to remember children who have gone missing or children who had been abducted and found dead. More than 15 families of victims of such children attended the ceremony. A tree was later planted at the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry offices as part of the of Arbour Week celebrations under the theme: Plant a tree, Heal a Nation")
We are all gathered here this afternoon to commit ourselves to promoting the quality of life of our children.
We are also gathered here to make a vow that never again will we allow our children to be violated in ways that defy imagination as has been happening.
Children are a precious gift from God but because our people have lost their sense of "Ubuntu" we find terrible pain being visited upon our children.
Through this remembrance ceremony today we are uniting to say never again!
We are uniting to say we will go back to the basics of Ubuntu and rebuild our families for the greater protection of our children.
Part of the solution to this evil we are as a South African society dealing with right now is strong families.
* Families that would cope with the fight against social ills such as the abduction and the sexual abuse of children.
* Families that would protect children from abuse and vulnerability.
* These families should be the foundation on which communities and a caring society are built.
* They should also be the foundation for the better life for which we are all working.
The Hands Off Our Children anti-child abuse campaign that we are driving as the Department of Community Safety advocates the, "My Child is your Child and, * your Child is my Child" policy.
This means that we go back to the age-old tradition of communal parenting. Neighbours should adopt their neighbour's children and likewise.
I am saying it here this afternoon Adopt your neighbour's child and let a neighbour adopt your child as one way of creating safety nets around our children.
Children constitute the most vulnerable group in contemporary democratic South African society.
I take this, as I am sure do all of you this ceremony here today as the first step towards healing our nation of this scourge.
We are later going to plant a tree that will stand as a continuous reminder - to this cause and the health of our children.
But at the same time, the tree will also stand as a living reminder to all the children who have lost their lives.
Trees, like children require constant nurturing. As such, children should grow up in a family and a societal environment of happiness, love, care and understanding to achieve their full potential.
Whilst there are a number of measures, policies and programs in place that seek to protect and promote the quality of life of children - the co-operation and partnership of our entire society is required.
Although the success rate of recovering these children is almost 84%, more as we are trying to do here today should be done to prevent our children from going missing in the first place.
How can we as parents and adults help?
There is a need for reliable data and a viable database of missing children for public notification.
Parents should keep all recent details of their developing child handy, i.e.
* Have a recent photograph of the child
* Know your children's height, length, mass and identity numbers off by heart in case of an emergency.
Currently, there is a national database that safely stores personal details of children, developed by the SA Information Bank in association with the Missing Persons Bureau.
This is a pro-active approach into availing chances of finding missing people within the first 72 hours.
Security on the information bank can be compared to that of Internet banking - only authorized personnel at the bureau have access to the information and is treated with extreme confidentiality.
Directly related to this national database is: The "scan-a-school" project
The project aims to keep information of all school children in the country.
* Parents complete a questionnaire, which is then fed into the database.
* Information gathering costs are R40, and consists of the following:
-- 2x photos (front and profile)
-- All ten fingerprints
--Contact details of the parent, friend and/or church minister
-- Personal details, for example blood type, scars, other unique characteristic, and a hair sample for DNA scan.
The parent receives a computer print of the child's photographs, fingerprints and a hair sample to keep in a safe place.
I encourage all of you here today to join this project for the protection of your children, and for the quick response of authorities concerned should they go missing.
If we do it as entire communities, there's a good chance that this registration might also serve as a deterrent to those who would want to harm our children.
CONCLUSION
The high number of statistics involving missing children suggests that we are not living up to the standards set by the constitution concerning children.
Caring societies should do everything in their power to protect their children. The South African Police Service is doing all in its power to protect our children and will continue to do so.
In this connection, I want to emphasize that the 48-hr wait which was a condition for reporting missing children in years gone by * has now been scrapped.
As soon as you have a reasonable suspicion that your child has gone missing * do not hesitate * go and inform the police.
But, communities remain our greatest weapon in the fight against all kinds of crimes * therefore we urge the public to be the eyes and the ears of the Bureau for Missing Persons.
By picking up the phone and calling 0800 11 12 13 with information, even if it seems insignificant one can make a difference for all the heartbroken people whose children are missing.
It is my hope that this initiative will not end here today.
As the tree grows may it always remind us of the challenges that are still ahead of us.
May it always remind us of the vows we are taking here today of doing everything in our power to safeguard and protect our children.
Sibambene in partnership we will turn the tide against missing children and crimes against women and children.
I thank you
Issued by the Western Cape Provincial Government, 5 September 2003
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Ramatlakane: Remembrance ceremony for missing/deceased children, Western Cape
EXTRACTS OF WESTERN CAPE COMMUNITY SAFETY MINISTER, LEONARD RAMATLAKANE'S SPEECH AT THE REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY FOR MISSING/DECEASED CHILDREN, 5 September 2003
(The Day of Remembrance Ceremony was held at the Bellville Town hall this afternoon under the auspices of the Bambanani Unite Against Crime initiative of the Department of Community Safety in conjunction with the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry to remember children who have gone missing or children who had been abducted and found dead. More than 15 families of victims of such children attended the ceremony. A tree was later planted at the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry offices as part of the of Arbour Week celebrations under the theme: Plant a tree, Heal a Nation")
We are all gathered here this afternoon to commit ourselves to promoting the quality of life of our children.
We are also gathered here to make a vow that never again will we allow our children to be violated in ways that defy imagination as has been happening.
Children are a precious gift from God but because our people have lost their sense of "Ubuntu" we find terrible pain being visited upon our children.
Through this remembrance ceremony today we are uniting to say never again!
We are uniting to say we will go back to the basics of Ubuntu and rebuild our families for the greater protection of our children.
Part of the solution to this evil we are as a South African society dealing with right now is strong families.
* Families that would cope with the fight against social ills such as the abduction and the sexual abuse of children.
* Families that would protect children from abuse and vulnerability.
* These families should be the foundation on which communities and a caring society are built.
* They should also be the foundation for the better life for which we are all working.
The Hands Off Our Children anti-child abuse campaign that we are driving as the Department of Community Safety advocates the, "My Child is your Child and, * your Child is my Child" policy.
This means that we go back to the age-old tradition of communal parenting. Neighbours should adopt their neighbour's children and likewise.
I am saying it here this afternoon Adopt your neighbour's child and let a neighbour adopt your child as one way of creating safety nets around our children.
Children constitute the most vulnerable group in contemporary democratic South African society.
I take this, as I am sure do all of you this ceremony here today as the first step towards healing our nation of this scourge.
We are later going to plant a tree that will stand as a continuous reminder - to this cause and the health of our children.
But at the same time, the tree will also stand as a living reminder to all the children who have lost their lives.
Trees, like children require constant nurturing. As such, children should grow up in a family and a societal environment of happiness, love, care and understanding to achieve their full potential.
Whilst there are a number of measures, policies and programs in place that seek to protect and promote the quality of life of children - the co-operation and partnership of our entire society is required.
Although the success rate of recovering these children is almost 84%, more as we are trying to do here today should be done to prevent our children from going missing in the first place.
How can we as parents and adults help?
There is a need for reliable data and a viable database of missing children for public notification.
Parents should keep all recent details of their developing child handy, i.e.
* Have a recent photograph of the child
* Know your children's height, length, mass and identity numbers off by heart in case of an emergency.
Currently, there is a national database that safely stores personal details of children, developed by the SA Information Bank in association with the Missing Persons Bureau.
This is a pro-active approach into availing chances of finding missing people within the first 72 hours.
Security on the information bank can be compared to that of Internet banking - only authorized personnel at the bureau have access to the information and is treated with extreme confidentiality.
Directly related to this national database is: The "scan-a-school" project
The project aims to keep information of all school children in the country.
* Parents complete a questionnaire, which is then fed into the database.
* Information gathering costs are R40, and consists of the following:
-- 2x photos (front and profile)
-- All ten fingerprints
--Contact details of the parent, friend and/or church minister
-- Personal details, for example blood type, scars, other unique characteristic, and a hair sample for DNA scan.
The parent receives a computer print of the child's photographs, fingerprints and a hair sample to keep in a safe place.
I encourage all of you here today to join this project for the protection of your children, and for the quick response of authorities concerned should they go missing.
If we do it as entire communities, there's a good chance that this registration might also serve as a deterrent to those who would want to harm our children.
CONCLUSION
The high number of statistics involving missing children suggests that we are not living up to the standards set by the constitution concerning children.
Caring societies should do everything in their power to protect their children. The South African Police Service is doing all in its power to protect our children and will continue to do so.
In this connection, I want to emphasize that the 48-hr wait which was a condition for reporting missing children in years gone by * has now been scrapped.
As soon as you have a reasonable suspicion that your child has gone missing * do not hesitate * go and inform the police.
But, communities remain our greatest weapon in the fight against all kinds of crimes * therefore we urge the public to be the eyes and the ears of the Bureau for Missing Persons.
By picking up the phone and calling 0800 11 12 13 with information, even if it seems insignificant one can make a difference for all the heartbroken people whose children are missing.
It is my hope that this initiative will not end here today.
As the tree grows may it always remind us of the challenges that are still ahead of us.
May it always remind us of the vows we are taking here today of doing everything in our power to safeguard and protect our children.
Sibambene in partnership we will turn the tide against missing children and crimes against women and children.
I thank you
Issued by the Western Cape Provincial Government, 5 September 2003
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