Premier tackles the issue of child killings

Celeste Ganga
19 June 2007

To stop the number of child killings in the province the Western Cape government are set to put tough new measures in place.


As part of the plan government has called on the justice department to close loopholes allowing murder suspects back in society.

After a provincial executive committee meeting held on Wednesday, the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool addressed the extension of the director-general’s contract and redeployment.

Other issues that were addressed were illegal shebeens, poor parenting, the safeguard and neglect of children and the recovery plan for schools affected by the public servants strike.

“It is important that parents need to be held accountable. We received 77 dockets of murdered children, in most of these cases drug and alcohol abuse was at the heart of the problem,” says Rasool.

Rasool added that only 12 of the 77 child murder victims were killed by strangers. He said this raises the issue of parenting in our communities and the fabric of our society.

Statistics reveal that 40 arrests have been made and 52% led to arrests and judicial action against the killers.

“Parenting is a responsibility. In poor communities there is a lack of parenting,” says MEC for Social Services and Poverty Alleviation, Koleka Mqulwana.

“Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla will be approached to discuss the problems of repeat offenders,” says Mqulwana.