children

Four men believed to be linked to several robberies at the TLC Children’s Home in Eikenhof, south of Joburg, were arrested on Tuesday after police received information from local residents.

Last Wednesday, three teenagers were abducted from the children’s home after a hijacked City of Joburg ambulance was used to gain entry onto the property.

The boys were forced into the ambulance, taken to a remote location, beaten and robbed of their possessions, including their shoes and cellphones.

A minibus taxi transporting disabled children from home to a special needs school was involved in a collision that killed two people and left 24 children injured on Tuesday.

The collision‚ between the minibus and a bakkie‚ happened in the morning on the R25 at Bronkhorstpruit in Gauteng.

"Two of the disabled children are in a critical condition‚ the rest sustained moderate to minor injuries‚" said Netcare911.

A s 16-year-old Maria strained under the anguish of labour in southeastern Nigeria, a midwife repeatedly slapped her across the face - but the real ordeal began minutes after birth.

"The nurse took my child away to be washed. She never brought her back," the teenager said, gazing down at her feet.
Maria said she learned her newborn daughter had been given up for adoption for which she received 20,000 naira ($65.79) - the same price as a 50 kilogram bag of rice.

Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation, has warned that millions of children will suffer disproportionately from the failed harvests and devastated livelihoods left behind by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

The charity’s East and Southern Africa regional director, David Wright, points out that, “Children face protection risks as families and communities move in search of work, food, water and grazing land for animals.”

The organisation estimates that 26.5 million children could face malnutrition, water shortages and disease in affected African regions.

In South Africa now, research shows that one in two children will grow up without their fathers, a worrying statistic that can have devastating effects especially on boys and on society.

Thuthukani Ndebele, a researcher with South African Institute of Race Relations, points out that: "You are looking at about 35 percent of the population being children and if you look specifically at data on absent fathers you find that something about 14.6 percent of kids have absent fathers.”

The Department of Social Development says it is working on making child protection a year-long commitment.

The department’s director-general, Connie Nxumalo, points out that children need to be protected as they are the future of any country.

Government and civil society say they plan to spend the next seven days – during the Child Protection Week to pay attention to some of the difficult issues faced by South Africa's youth.

The Children's Rights & Emergency Relief Organisation (UNICEF) says despite global progress on achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), unequal opportunities have left nearly 600 million children living in extreme poverty on less than US$1.25 a day.

The agency states that millions of the world's poorest children are denied a fair start in life and many more will be left behind unless they are put at the centre of new development goals for 2030.