Like Esidemeni, the Carletonville child abuse could’ve been avoided

5 April 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is horrified at the incidents of abuse which occurred at a creche in Carletonville.

We have already spoken with various community stakeholders and have visited the creche to seek out the facts for ourselves in the interest of justice and the protection of the rights of all victims.

Yesterday various videos surfaced on social media allegedly showing one of the caregivers assaulting minors at the creche.

It is unacceptable that this has occurred as Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) need to be safe spaces for learning.

It has since emerged that this ECD was not registered and had been operating on an expired licence. The knowledge that this ECD is non-compliant has been long-running. It is unacceptable that it had to take a social media storm for Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, and her department to act.

In the third quarterly report for the Gauteng Department of Social Development it emerged that only 1247 ECD centres out of 2 262 are fully registered.

The ANC government is failing to ensure that every ECD centre in Gauteng is registered and compliant with the law.

It is clear that the ANC do not care for the most vulnerable in our society.

The Life Esidimeni tragedy where 144 of the most vulnerable lost their lives is one of the most callous and heartless acts of cruelty a government could possibly inflict on its people. As in the case of Esidimeni, we will not allow those ultimately responsible for abuse - people like Premier David Makhura and MEC for Social Development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza – to dodge accountability.

The DA welcomes the swift action by SAPS for the arrest and court appearance of the accused in this matter.

We call on the community to remain calm and allow the justice system to take its course. Let us unite as South Africans for the safety and wellbeing of all our children.

We will be attending the court case on 7 May 2019 when the suspect is due to appear in court again.

Issued by Refiloe Nt’sekhe, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development, 5 April 2019