How many children are going to die?

A candle-lighting ceremony was held in Durban on Sunday for children who have died tragically, mostly in motor vehicles accidents. Picture: Kris Bisetty

A candle-lighting ceremony was held in Durban on Sunday for children who have died tragically, mostly in motor vehicles accidents. Picture: Kris Bisetty

Published Nov 23, 2016

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Durban - How many children are going to die?

That’s the brutal question every parent needs to confront if they are to help prevent their own becoming mere statistics.

Having lost two children in tragic circumstances, Durban mother Mogie Maduray is alarmed that not enough is being done to curb the social problems leading to the unnecessary deaths of so many youngsters in the community, particularly in road accidents.

Underage drinking, racing, showing off in snazzy cars while barely of legal driving age, texting while driving and even being high on drugs while behind the wheel are some of the factors that parents can control to minimise fatalities, she said.

But no one listens.

“We keep saying year after year, How many children are going to die?” Maduray told POST at a candle-lighting ceremony she organised in Durban on Sunday for children who have died tragically.

About 150 people attended the annual event. About 50 framed pictures told the silent story of young lives snatched away.

“If we drink and drive we are killers,” said Maduray. “I just wish the youngsters will listen. Our kids are dying.”

Maduray has delivered similar messages over radio and recently at a university, but worries that many youngsters are not responsible enough.

“I know they want to enjoy life, but be careful,” she said. “We all think we are good drivers until we take our last breath.”

With the matric exams ending next week, and the festive season approaching, more youngsters are going to lose their lives, she fears. Making an impassioned plea to parents to be more watchful, Maduray said it was no use crying when it was too late.

“It’s heartbreaking to lose a child; nothing is ever the same - birthdays, a new year or even meals.”

Vee Gani, chairman of the Parents Association of KwaZulu-Natal, said drinking was now common among school pupils. “Just recently four schoolboys, during school hours, were caught loitering around a shopping centre. They got an adult to purchase them alcohol, which they consumed and went back to school.

“Someone smelt it on them and they admitted drinking. One was a repeat offender. He was recently in a disciplinary hearing for assaulting another pupil and now his parents had to be called in again.”

Added Gani: “This is an issue, and sadly it’s not only with boys, girls are also drinking; there are girls who party in the day, truant school, go to their parents’ home while they are working and alcohol is being used. It is frightening. Parents need to watch their children; look at their behaviour.”

Michael Lachimiah, chairman of the SGB at Sastri Park Secondary in Phoenix said one of the reasons for underage drinking was that parents had “lost contact” with their children. “The communication gap between them is ever widening,” he said, adding that parents “are too tired” when they return from work to find out how their child’s day has been.

“The interest parents show in their children is dwindling. These children find themselves ploughing through their teenage years in sad solitude. When parents go partying and leave teenagers alone at home it leaves them prone to experiment with alcohol and other vices.”

Lachimiah said there were many social problems facing families in Phoenix and, unfortunately, more parents reach for the bottle than seek advice to alleviate stress.

“If parents are facing this dilemma and cannot help themselves, imagine what plight the children find themselves in when faced with their own problems?

“They drink alcohol to forget their problems, but fail to realise that their problems still persist long after the bottle is emptied.”

According to an accident database compiled from reports obtained from all SAPS stations in the eThekwini region, drivers between the ages of 25 and 34 are involved in 27% of all motor vehicle road accidents in the city.

“From January 2015 to June 2016, over 50 000 drivers in this age group were in crashes, and 6 000 were injured,” said city communications head Tozi Mthethwa.

According to Arrive Alive, there were 832 000 road crashes in South Africa last year, many of which were blamed on factors such as drunk driving and speeding.

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