The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) joins millions of South Africans as we observe Child Protection Week.

We are observing this important Week amidst the catastrophic and unfortunate death of 36 young initiates in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, respectively.

We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the perished young initiates, and we call on security agencies to apprehend and arrest those responsible for this senseless loss of young lives.

We believe that the major cause of this massive death of initiates is the commodification of this customary custom by traditional elites for narrow and personal accumulation interests.

Furthermore, we call for the clamping down of bogus initiation schools, operated by the shenanigans of certain individuals parading as genuine or legitimate initiation experts, in order to make money, thus putting the lives of young initiates at risk, including premature loss of life.

Our Gender structures, across the country will undertake a detailed discussion on this matter with, intention of soliciting scientific proposals to avert loss of lives, whilst preserving this old customary practice or culture.

We live in a country that is ravaged by atrocious violence against children, especially targeted against female black African working class children, most often by people close to us or by people living within our own apartheid-created townships or squalid squatter camps.

This odious violence against children should be understood as a class issue, given the scandalous inequalities that exist amongst the rich and the poor, and unequal power relations in our societies.

This triggers the possibilities of many working class and poor children being consigned to unbearable and hazardous living conditions, whilst the children of the rich or elites are insulated from the wretchedness of the poor, and they are drowning in wealth and enjoying all the niceties as offered by capitalist greed and barbarity.

It is the children of the working class and the poor that are trapped in the fringes of the capitalist economy that lead them to become street beggars, drug-sniffers, crime offenders, and at times child laborers, as a survival strategy, amidst the brutality of capitalism.

It is in this context that as Numsa, we call on the working class and the poor, to intensify the struggle for the total implementation of the Freedom Charter, as part of securing and delivering our children’s future.

We strongly believe that the current neo-liberal economic trajectory, which puts profits first, as opposed to the needs of humanity, is a threat to the future of our children.

The neo-liberal accumulation path of our country has failed to generate resources for the children of the working class and the poor to have access to quality public health-care, free quality public education and adequate standard of living for their physical and social development.

We call on our structures, shopstewards and activists to participate in all the activities geared towards focusing the country on child protection.

Contact:

Castro Ngobese
National Spokesperson – 081 011 1137