Aids orphans 'abused'

Persistent allegations of sexual abuse and of neglect have prompted the government to remove 160 children from a home for Aids orphans.

The Gauteng department of social development plans to move the children from Sparrow Village, in Maraisburg, western Johannesburg , by the end of next month.

The children, aged between five and 18, will be placed in state institutions, or be entrusted to non-government organisations or foster parents , according to Sello Mokoena, spokesman for the department.

At least one child has already been moved.

HIV-positive children who live with their mothers will not be relocated.

Mokoena said there were several reasons for the department removing the children from the orphanage but the most serious were the sexual-abuse claims.

In a recent petition to the department, and in a letter to Sparrow Ministries, which runs the orphanage, staff alleged that teenagers had become pregnant, sniffed benzene, cultivated dagga on the premises, stole, and were guilty of vandalism and arson.

"Teenage pregnancies, [about] nine in total, show that we are unable to enforce responsible ownership of HIV-Aids," the staff members wrote.

Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron, an honorary patron of Sparrow Village, yesterday said that if the allegations were confirmed it would be "a tragedy for everyone concerned".

Staff members said the most recent sexual abuse was that of a 13-year-old HIV-positive girl who had been impregnated allegedly by a 15-year-old boy at the orphanage.

Staff members spoke of an institution at which children abused drugs, had sleep-overs with their boyfriends or girlfriends, and played truant from school.

They alleged that the founder of Sparrow, Corine McClintock, had been against reporting some of the incidents to the authorities.

McClintock yesterday refused to comment on the allegations.

Staff said that in recent months there had been five incidents of alleged sexual abuse, and of children aged five and seven having sex. They claim the victims were examined by a staff member but the school did not reporting the incidents to the authorities.

"We will investigate all the allegations of abuse," said Mokoena. "We are trying to find out how many cases there are and we are involving the police."

He said Sparrow was not following the procedures laid down in the Children's Act.

"We had social workers being turned away and told to make an appointment.

"According to the act, social workers don't need to do this."

Mokoena said there had been a breakdown in the relations between management and staff at the orphanage.

At the heart of the problem, the staff maintained, was McClintock's "autocratic" behaviour.

Staff members said they had tried to raise their concerns about the running of the home.

They said they were now worried about the psychological effect of their relocation on the children.

"It is unfair on the children. The move will affect each child's programme," said one staff member.

Staff said they believed the best course would have been to remove McClintock, improve conditions at Sparrow, and allow the children to remain at the orphanage.

A Sunday Times exposé yesterday alleged neglect at the Serendipity old age home in Cape Town, at which 15 people have died in the past five months.

The investigation found that residents were allegedly drugged, locked in bathrooms and given inadequate food and care.

Is it a haven or hazard?

Sparrow Ministries was founded by Corine McClintock in 1992 in a three-bedroomed house in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg, before becoming the world's first "Aids village" in 2001.

McClintock said she started the organisation after dreaming about saving Aids orphans.

Her work was filled with heartache. She noted that over a 10-year period 600 of the children living in the village she established died of HIV-Aids.

In 2009, the City of Johannesburg said Sparrow Village owed it more than R1-million.

Now allegations of child abuse at the orphanage have surfaced.