Kids on drugs: parents could face arrest

Published Aug 5, 2015

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Johannesburg - Parents who allow their underage children to abuse substances and fall prey to sexual predators could face arrest.

The head of the Gauteng Department of Social Development, Shoki Tshabalala, said in Eldorado Park on Tuesday that she would work with the police and community organisations to tackle substance abuse by minors.

Parents could be held accountable for their children’s safety and wellbeing under the Children’s Act.

“The Gauteng city region is moving forward on tackling drugs,” Tshabalala said.

The department planned to use the model adopted by the Eldorado Local Drug Action Committee (Eldac).

“We need to give praise and recognition to the role played by the local drug action group. It’s important that other communities copy this model and it’s not just left to the government. Community members should be our eyes and ears on the ground,” she added.

Eldac chairwoman Cheryl Pillay said the Children’s Act obliged parents to supervise their children.

“We want to make an example and say ‘We’ll have you arrested.’ If we find an intoxicated child, we can arrest the child, the parents and the person who sold the substances to them.”

On Friday night, police and Eldac removed five girls under the age of 16 from a “lolly lounge” in a local house, where girls are supplied with crystal meth in exchange for sex with men.

 

“A lolly for a tolly (penis),” a saying in the area goes.

The five girls had escaped from police care. Police searched a block of flats on Friday, where they were found. They are expected to appear in a children’s court.

Angry residents emerged from neighbouring buildings to express their frustration at the drug dens and the dealers they say are holding them hostage.

“We’re glad you’re here,” one man told the police. “The children come in and out here. There’s noise all night. We’re scared to leave our houses.”

Residents often don’t report their neighbours’ activities to police for fear of reprisal.

Two brothers found sleeping in one of the alleged lolly lounges admitted to using drugs but denied the neighbours’ claims that minor girls frequented the flat.

Next door, a woman said she was often too scared to leave her room as her 37-year-old brother and his friends got high in the room next door.

The stench in the small, filthy room was unbearable. Bottles littered the floor.

As the five girls were whisked away in police vehicles to a place of safety, the department’s deputy director-general, Daphne Naidoo, said they would have to appear in a children’s court within 48 hours, along with their parents.

It emerged the girls had been suspended from school and their parents hadn’t been involved when staff tried to arrange meetings to help them.

What the Children’s Act says:

The children’s Act 38 of 2005 came into effect on April 1, 2010.

Department of Social Development deputy director-general Daphne Naidoo said all abuse and deliberate neglect must be reported in terms of the child protection register.

The act states:

“Part A of the register must be a record of:

A) All reports of abuse or deliberate neglect of a child made to the Department of Social Development in terms of the Children’s Act, or,

B) Convictions of all persons on charges involving the abuse or deliberate neglect of a child, and

C) All findings by a children’s court that a child is in need of care and protection because of abuse or deliberate neglect of the child.”

Parents can be arrested for not complying with the law.

The act states that the best interests of the child and the child’s rights have to be met.

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The Star

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