When society fails to protect kids

Pinky Khoabane: Suffer the children. These words sum up the sordid tale that emerged from the bail hearing of a grandfather, his wife and six family members who are accused of sexually molesting, raping and producing pornographic films of four children aged between four and 15.

We know that the world we live in is sick, but the idea that parents and grandparents - people in whom a child puts complete trust - could sexually molest their own and make pornographic films which they pass on to others to watch is too ghastly to contemplate.

But here we were, listening to the repugnant tale of a family of eight, whose ages range from 26 to 61, appearing in court for rape, indecent assault, manufacturing and distributing pornographic material of these children.

The eight are a grandfather, 58, grandmother, 57, their sons, 34 and 36, the wife of one of the brothers, 26, the grandfather's brother, 61, his wife, 42, and their mentally disabled son.

Yep, a mentally disabled person is among those allegedly involved in abusing others. What the heck is this world coming to?

According to the intricate testimony - during which the grandfather tried to exonerate himself from the sexual violation of a foster daughter - we heard how, over a period of almost six years, someone in whose care the child had been placed knew that the child was being molested.

The grandfather and his wife, social workers and a district surgeon all knew that the child had been abused, but they did nothing.

Well, the grandfather said that every effort to have the child seen by a psychologist was hindered by the social workers, and when the child eventually saw a psychologist, nothing came of it.

He claimed that, from the day the girl arrived in his home for foster care, he had raised the issue of possible sexual molestation with the social workers.

The child was wearing a garment which had semen on it, which he said raised suspicion that she might have been molested before coming into his care.

After numerous complaints about her behaviour, including fondling other children, they were told that children played like that and that they should speak nicely to her and she would stop.

The family eventually took her to a doctor, who confirmed that she had been sexually molested only a few days before. The doctor told the grandfather to take her to the police.

I don't know how doctors operate in cases where they discover that a minor is being abused, but common sense would tell them they ought to take up the matter with the police and social workers, not only with the parents - in case the parents were involved in the abuse.

The grandfather's version of events was that they were being framed for threatening to expose the inefficiency of the social workers in dealing with the molestation of the child before and during their care.

He maintained that the daughter was raped by someone else.

The state and social workers have a different version. They maintain that this family sexually abused these children over a period of time.

They claim that the children - three boys and a girl - were photographed for pornographic movies, the evidence of which is contained in CDs, DVDs and computers confiscated from the family's four smallholdings.

The grandfather and the family will be hard pressed to explain how this material ended up in their home if they knew nothing about it.

He will also have to explain the testimony of the children about their sexual encounters.

Whatever version emerges as the truth, here's my question to the social workers: why on earth would people who live in absolute squalor be given the extra responsibility of looking after children?

Pictures accompanying media reports showed the filthy surroundings where this family lived. The houses had "human and animal excrement on the floor, and the stench was nauseating", according to a witness who was present during the police raid.

Why would it take almost six years (the child was placed in the care of the grandparents in 2004) for social workers to establish that something was amiss and required them to act?

What happened here was a travesty. No amount of justification can exonerate this family from their complicity in the neglect of these children.

Not only were they let down by their own parents and family, but they were also let down by a social system which we would all have expected to protect them.