Nokuthula, Thulani and Emmanuel (not their real names) live in Ingwavuma in KwaZulu-Natal and are part of the CI’s Dikwankwetla – Children in Action group. Andrew is involved in the Growing up in a time of AIDS Children’s Radio-Diary Project (a joint project of the CI and Zisize Educational Trust). Three of the Dikwankwetla children travelled to Ulundi to present their submissions on the Children’s Amendment Bill to the provincial parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare. They were accompanied by Niki from Zisize. Nokuthula reports back on what happened:
“During our journey to Ulundi we got stuck in mud and deep water […] and some local boys had to push us out. On the way and at the hotel, many people stopped us and asked us about our T shirts and what we were doing. They were all impressed.
On Tuesday, we arrived at Parliament at 8.30am for a 9 o’clock appointment with the Committee. We were surprised to find cracked windows in the foyer and many weeds in the paving outside. We were the first ones there. The chamber was very imposing and there was a recording studio at the very highest point.
There were very comfortable chairs and we sat in the whole of the front row.
There was a microphone in front of each of us and we had to switch it on to speak. We set up the laptop and checked that the sound could be heard from the radio project CD and began practicing our speeches, when a policeman came in and asked us to move outside for a while, as he had to ‘sweep’ the chamber with a police dog.
A few more people joined us and eventually at about 10 o’clock the hearings began. There were only four Members of Parliament and their legal advisor. There were only six other people apart from us in the public seats in the Chamber. First the legal advisor went through the Bill in Zulu and then those wishing to make a submission were asked to speak. A lady from Durban Institute of Technology spoke first and then it was our turn.
Andrew spoke first and played the CD. He gave them a copy at the end. He invited them to visit Ingwavuma.
Then it was Nokuthula’s turn. In the middle of her speech the chairman and the legal advisor began speaking to each other and Niki was very cross that they not listening to Nokuthula, but Nokuthula’s was brave and carried on talking.
When she had finished, the chairman spoke and said how impressed they were and that they had been discussing that they should invite us to address the full Parliament in Pietermaritzburg in the next couple of months.
He said that they would pay for us to stay overnight because it was too far to go there and back in one day. He said they all heard about orphans but many did not understand what this meant for individual children and she had made it come alive, so he wanted all the MPs and ministers to hear us.
Then Emmanuel spoke and he too was excellent and told of his experiences and how he did not want any other child to suffer abuse.
He wanted the bill to encourage children to report abuse to any caring adult and not just the ones in the bill. The chairman thanked him very much. Thulani came next and spoke confidently and clearly.
He spoke against child slavery and the different treatment of orphans and natural children in a family.
He too was thanked by the chairman. Niki just thanked the Committee for not only giving Dikwankwetla a voice, but for listening to that voice and for inviting us to Pietermaritzburg. She said how proud she was of us. She also said that the Radio project was important for many reasons, including giving children the opportunity to trust adults and to disclose to them when they were being abused. She said there were hundreds of children in the same difficulties as us in Ingwavuma. She also invited them to visit Ingwavuma and see for themselves.
The last person to speak was an old woman who spoke against orphans and the way they were abusive to the grandmothers who cared for them.
Then the Committee came down to us and all shook our hands. The chairman gave Nokuthula R100 and his card with his home number on it! On the way home (via Empangeni to avoid the flood) she bought us all an ice cream.
Niki took our photo with them but is not sure it will come out. She gave them Zisize’s contact details and our caregiver’s number so that they can call us to go to Parliament.
Afterwards we had some tea and sandwich but the police ate most of the sandwiches and muffins and we had little. [Name removed] who used to be head social worker in Ingwavuma but now is a Director in Social Welfare in Ulundi came to talk to us. She said she was very glad we came to represent Umkhanyakude as no one else had come and that the committee were impressed. She said she would do all she could to help Zisize. When we eventually got back to Ingwavuma there was a message to say that she had phoned and wanted to know the circumstances of the three of us to speed up the foster care grant.”
For more information on this project, see the HIV/AIDS Programme page, or contact Wanjirũ Mũkoma.
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