Cape Town - Provincial government leaders snubbed a conference of 100 children who shared their experiences of crime and gang violence on the Cape Flats.
The conference was held in the city and was attended by young people from Mitchells Plain, Dunoon, Elsies River, Philippi, Manenberg, Khayelitsha, Hanover Park, Khayelitsha and Hout Bay.
Cassandry Charles, 17, from Mitchells Plain said: "We would like Parliament to come into our communities, see our problems and stay there for a week. They will not survive it."
Another child, Arthur Schuller from Hanover Park, said something had to be done before it was too late.
"We should have done something about what is happening to our children when it started. The killings, murders, rapes - we always wait until these issues escalate to an uncontrollable state before we do something about it."
Valdi Van Reenen-Le Roux, executive director of the Trauma Centre, said it invited Western Cape premier Helen Zille to the conference and although she accepted she later sent an apology and said she was sick.
MEC for Community Safety Dan Plato sent an apology and MEC for Social Development Albert Fritz sent a representative.
"We really wanted the premier to attend the conference so she could listen to the children and understand why a commission of inquiry into child murders are so important. Young boys are also killed in gang violence. They said some people use drugs as a way of coping with circumstances in their communities. The kids also complained about the overcrowding in their homes," Van Reenen-le Roux said.
"And they told us how there is no food when they get home in the afternoons and then they have to go to look for something to eat. Every day they live in fear. Even traditional places of safety are no longer safe for them.
"We emphasise that violence prevention interventions such as a commission of inquiry is crucial to eliminating it in our communities. Nelson Mandela would have supported such a call. In his honour, we press on, lobbying the premier to establish a commission of inquiry into the safety of our children in the Western Cape," Van Reenen-Le Roux said.
Zille's spokesperson Michael Mpofu urged everyone to get involved to create a safer environment for children.