My name is Ayanda Holo. I am an apartheid survivor. It must have been the coldest day of the year in the 1980s, in a month I can barely remember, the Cape Doctor, whipping through the trees, and the make-shift shacks. My only thoughts were to hold on and escape the cold, my tiny, skinny body clothed only in a hoody under the heavy clouds of smoke from the burning bungalows of Crossroads in Nyanga Bush.
The surreal scene of rattling doors in homes that were not secured enough was interrupted by the panicking voices of adults around me. The calls came that the "Wit doekers," the Nazis of the South with state-sponsored machine guns and pangas, were drawing close, passing Maumau township intending to attack homes and families of the United Democratic Front leaders in Nyanga East.
Before I understood the menace of the situation, I found myself in a church in Claremont as a refugee in the City of Cape Town, with other crying refugee kids from the burning Cross Roads Township. Not all the images are clear as I write this story, but the smell of burning tyres and the distinct odor of tear-gas can never escape my nostrils. I remember being rescued by adults, the activist Father Thabo, whose real name I learned later as Reverent Sid Lucked, took me to his home in Bishops Court. Nobantu, his wife, fed me dinner before a gentle knock on the sliding door revealed my neighbour, Mziwonke Jack. That's the moment I truly felt safe. I felt cared for, supported, and protected.
Today, in communities throughout South Africa, there are many adults that give a sense of protection to children like I felt that night. The Children's Act puts children at the centre of services during disasters and conflicts and ensures that children know who to call or where to go when they need assistance. However, can we say this protection mechanism rings true for most separated refugees, unaccompanied migrants, and refugee children in the Limpopo from Zimbabwe and Kenya, Nigeria, or the Democratic Republic of Congo?
Fortunately, the South African Constitution gives equal rights to all children, including foreign nationals or stateless children. It is estimated that there are 600, 000 migrant children in SA. Some of these children are undocumented and unaccompanied and live in the care of the Department of Social Development. Under the protection and the investment of Social development, these beautiful souls managed to escape from conflict zones; others migrated for economic reasons, better health care, and education. Some came to be with family members in South Africa to reunite and feel safe and protected.
Section 32 of South Africa’s Refugees Act states that any unaccompanied child who is found under circumstances that clearly indicate that they are an asylum seeker and a child in need of care contemplated in the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005), must … (a) be issued with an asylum seeker permit in terms of section 22; and (b) in the prescribed manner, be brought before the Children's Court in the district in which they were found, to be dealt with in terms of the Children's Act, 2005.
In terms of section 29(1) of the South African Bill of Rights, everyone in South Africa has the right to primary education, including adult basic education. A 2019 study found that children in care at Child and Youth Care Centers in South Africa were mainly able to access the right to education. Across all provinces, 38 per cent of children were of school-going age, and 89 per cent enrolled and attended school.
One of the stories in this study narrates a story of girls who arrived in 2002, born in Kenya, whose mother was financially and psychologically unstable. They lived in a car, their mother disappeared, and the social workers moved these girls and placed them at the Childcare facility. The Kenyan authorities in South Africa could not assist due to the lack of bureaucratic documentation, and now these girls are at risk of being stateless when they turn 18 years.
During the Africa Month in May, I asked myself, how do we improve the communication on family tracing processes? How do we strengthen cross-border family reunification mechanisms throughout the continent?
As communicators during the recent Africa Comms Week, we asked ourselves: how can we bring awareness to the issues faced by children and separated minors in the context of the theme for this annual Comms Week “what’s next for comms in Africa."
These issues should be a part of our discussions. We need to strive for a country and continent where children are protected and nurtured. A continent where child labour is abolished, where nutrition and food security are strengthened, and where health and social protection systems care for and protect the most vulnerable in society.
Ayanda Holo is Director-International Media Relations, Government Communication and Information System, South Africa
