History has taught us to take government announcements with a pinch of salt. Over the years, politicians and senior bureaucrats have made grand announcements on major issues that appeared, on the surface, to be panaceas for many socioeconomic challenges we face, only to disappear once the media have captured the events.
This has made us appreciate the difference between announcing a would-be solution and actual implementation of the solution. The latter is harder and requires dogged determination.
It is with this in mind that we cautiously welcome the announcement by minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube and police minister Senzo Mchunu, who unveiled a Collaborative Implementation Protocol, a five-year agreement that aims to tackle violence in schools and deal with the root causes that introduce this element into learning environments.
The picture is bleak, with murder, gangsterism, bullying, drug abuse and violence by or towards educators being the main pain points
This plan recognises that children spend the majority of their time at school; thus the lack of safety affects their ability to thrive and get the best out of the system. There is an urgent need to supplement the standards of safety and security. It also noted that in the recent crime statistics, six murders had occurred at schools.
No doubt, their hearts are in the right place. This is a noble move given that crime affects everyone in South Africa and is a big headache in the absence of leadership that ensures safety. However, this would not be the first time the departments have come up with such a plan. What happened to the Adopt a Cop programme that dates back to commissioner Riah Phiyega’s tenure? Through this programme, police officers from different police stations were meant to be the first point of contact for a specific school. The designated officer would be responsible for engaging with parents and educating learners on all things safety — essentially being the guardian in terms of protection.
Political heads may be different, but what have leaders in these portfolios done with these initiatives? How do we get excited about something that looks like a past programme that did not bear any fruit?
To be clear, we do not think that this plan will fail simply because past plans did. We believe it’s disingenuous to launch new plans without any accountability for what happened to past plans. Has anything been learnt from these? How would we know this new plan won’t suffer a similar fate? What’s troubling is the tendency of new ministers to come up with their plans when the goal should be plans that help eliminate crime from our places of learning.
Schools have undeniably become environments that mirror the dysfunction in our society. The statistics are merely speaking to a reality that most South Africans face daily. The picture is bleak, with murder, gangsterism, bullying, drug abuse and violence by or towards educators being the main pain points.
Protocols are welcome, well and good, but without action how can they protect children? In Samora Machel informal settlement, Cape Town, four children were murdered in a month. Just last week, Lethabo Mokonyane from Pretoria East was killed after writing his last grade 11 examination. These are not stats, they are screams of system collapse and a reminder that children’s safety is under siege.
How this new protocol should be judged is by its outcomes and the commitment beyond the terms of these political officials in office. It should be thorough and intentional to yield not only consequences but successful convictions.
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