Suffer the Children

The other day I commented that house invasions in South Africa do not just involve robbery. Very often there is severe violence, torture, rape and murder - then robbery. When I read stories like this, I despair.

This is a child brutalised by savages, likely AIDS-infested, which means her torment is not just the vicious act itself but she may have been handed a death sentence. This incident occurred on another smallholding where the risk of attack is highest.

FACT: According to the latest crime statistics, about 1400 children were murdered in the 12 months to March 31 this year, a 22.4 percent rise on the previous comparable period.
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Girl raped in house invasion

A 17-year-old girl was raped when a gang of four men robbed a house in Boekenhoutskloof in Cullinan, Gauteng police said.

Sergeant Marinda Stoltz said the four armed men gained entry to the plot house around 04:00 on Tuesday morning.

The men held the family of five at gunpoint and tied up four members but took a seven-year-old boy with them as they ransacked the house of electronic equipment and computers.

The men loaded the stolen goods into the family's Renault.

One of the men then took the young woman into another room where he raped her. The men fled in the stolen Renault, which was recovered in Mamelodi on Tuesday morning.

The rest of the family were not injured during the robbery.

A case of house robbery and a case of rape were being investigated. No arrests had been made, said Stoltz.

Our real national disgrace: The plight of our children

When it comes down to it, the real national disgrace blighting this country is something that is not the subject of national debate. It does not come up when the ANC splits or when politicians are at each other’s throats over the economy and politics.

It is the plight of our children.

I must tell you that the most unpleasant part of being a newspaper editor is, without question, having to digest and then publish news of what happens to the tiny vulnerable children of this country. Yesterday, just as we were about to publish a picture of four-year-old Abranesia Pass whose raped, lifeless body was found in a dam on Tuesday morning, news broke of a very different killing.

A man chasing a cell-phone thief accidentally shot dead three-year-old Richard Belang at a Johannesburg creche. This disproportionate, rage-driven use of violence is just as sick as that of the criminals and its consequences are just as bad.

The Times will continue to campaign to make this country safe for our children. It starts with each one of us placing aside our rage and placing the nurturing and safety of our children - and those of others - above all else.

This should be the number one issue in the 2009 election, difficult though it may be for the alpha-males of politics to find some warmth in their hearts.