Street kids' removal 'traumatic'

Johannesburg - There was no justification for the traumatic removal of street children from their parents during a government operation in Pretoria last week, the University of Pretoria said on Monday.

"We are committed to protect children's rights and to act in their best interest.


"We strongly oppose the manner in which the operation has been conducted in the name of 'child protection,'" said Professor Antoinette Lombard of the university's department of social work and criminology.

However, Gauteng department of health and social development spokesperson Mandla Sidu maintained that the operation went "according to plan".

The police, Tshwane metro police and the Gauteng department of health and social services reportedly picked up children and teenagers found begging at robots and took babies from women begging at robots on Friday and took them to places of safety.

Sidu said social workers would counsel the children and their separation from their parents would not be permanent.

He said the department had to establish whether the children were being rented out to beggars to make more money.:wtf:

"Our responsibility as a department is to protect the rights of the vulnerable."

Full investigation


He said the department had acted based on a report, but did not go into detail.

"We are acting in their (the children's) best interest."

The university has called for a full investigation into the exploitation of children by beggars and the prosecution of perpetrators, but it has questioned the taking of action without significant evidence.

This evidence should be based on a thorough investigation and assessment to determine whether children were in any immediate danger, said Lombard.

"We regret that the Children's Act has been misused to justify the forceful and traumatic removal of children in the absence of evidence whether they were in immediate danger," she said.

The university criticised as "unprofessional" the conduct of social workers who had allowed the privacy, dignity and rights of children and parents to be "violated and exploited in the media".

Lombard said the children and their parents could have been taken together to a safe place to be counselled while their circumstances were investigated.

The broader picture of the socio-economic and political context had not investigated by inquiring why the parents were on the street with their children, she said.

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Nothxkbi said:

I maintain all along, and say again, they way they went about this is absolutely disgusting like something out of a Holywood movie wtf where they thinking simply kidnapping children like this from their parents causing immense trauma to both. How about those who will now pose as officials and start kidnapping street kids? The way they indescriminately ripped children and babies away from their parents only tells me one thing, they don't care for either, their words are empty and contradictory. This is whats wrong with this country, rights of women and children stomped and spat on every day.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with acting in the interests of the children none whatsoever. All they've done is placed children at an even greater risk with this completely retarded campaign. How about Mandla Sidu get out of the space between the desk and chair where the corrupt pandering pockets and a promotion resides and go and check out the squaller and danger children are living in Alexandria, drinking water out of a river of diseases, pollution and filth only a few kilometers from the CBD. I wouldn't even let my dog walk through that shanty town for fear of it dying of cholera or something. There are MUCH bigger issues in and around Gauteng and here he's worried about beggars.

This only amounts to one thing, trying to sweep problems under the rug like they did when they evacuated all the street beggars during WC 2010. Mr Mandla Sidu is doing no different, simply trying to hide the problems, like attempting to curtail media freedom hello? Familiar? You can only hide bull****e for so long before its smell gives away its location.

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