Condemnation of Child Abuse and Rape
Kevin Southgate - ACDP MPL
Tuesday, 27 November 2001
Kevin Southgate, member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature for the African Christian Democratic Party, in his speech in the Provincial Legislature today, condemned the rape of a eight-month old baby in Ravensmead over the weekend.
Herewith follows the speech:
The ACDP wishes to unequivocally condemn the recent spate of child abuse and rape cases reported in the Western Cape including the rape at the weekend of the 8-month-old baby in Ravensmead. We would like to extend our sympathy and support to the family in this trying time.
We want to repeat that the nation and more so the province is under siege and that we cannot deny it any longer. Our children are facing a fierce and unprecedented challenge one that is threatening their very existence. It is apparent that none of us are exempt from its ravages and we cannot avoid its consequences.
Our children, young girls and boys are no longer safe anywhere, not in the schools that we send them to, not in the communities that they form an integral part of and not in their homes where they should receive the most protection. How free is our society and democracy when we can’t even trust that our children will awaken safely in their beds after the nights rest or when we have to be too afraid to allow a child to spend some time with his/ her grandfather, uncle or even father for fear that they will be abused and victimised.
Over the last number of years we have experienced substantial social regression. We have allowed pornography to be legalised inflaming already rampant lusts, and our rapists, murderers and sex offenders have gotten away unpunished or with ridiculously light sentences. We have psychiatrist and psycho-analysts telling us why the perpetrators should be excused listing poverty and apartheid in many cases as the key reasons but I’m afraid that the baby girl who’s life has been ripped apart understands little of this. The rape and abuse continues. There is just no excuse. The death penalty is the only just reward for this type of crime.
Every women and child that is raped serves as an indictment against government.
Speaker we must shoulder the blame because it is the politicians who in 1994 opened up the floodgates for moral decay. It is the justice system that we created that is unable to protect our children from these perpetrators.
The fact that our children are being raped and abused is not only a reflection on the perpetrators of the crime but it shames us as a society. The family, the foundational building block of society has and is steadily being eroded. We react in disgust when we hear of such heinous crimes being committed against children yet we continue to chip away at our social fibre by allowing legislation that will steal away the environment that is necessary for a family to flourish.
As the ACDP we call for the return of the death penalty, and ask that government acknowledge their role as protectors of the rule of law and of the family, and that they act out in this role. In order to ensure that our children are safe, we as the ACDP call on government to actively rid our nation of pornography and other social evils that degrade our society.
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For more information please call Kevin Southgate MPL at 082 7881181 or ACDP Media Liaison Liza Bloemetje at 082 4781037