Our children are the future and we are blessed to have them in our lives.
As adults we are obligated to protect and nurture them, to give them the best possible upbringing to become productive citizens and the best future parents to their own children. That is the circle of life.
But there is a dark and frightening threat to some of our children in our communities. When you encounter the minibus taxis at any taxi rank or in the streets, you observe their frantic rush to get to the next pick-up point.
And amid that frantic scatter and jostling is a young boy who jumps in and out the minibus taxi, shouting slogans and pointing fingers in all directions to lure potential commuters to their minibus taxi.
And the little money bag in his hand, swinging from side to side, never leaves his grip.
Such energy in performing his “work” is amazing to watch, and you wonder how is it that he is not at school, applying all that boundless energy to educate himself and become a worthwhile citizen and be the best that he can be?
Then one day you read an interview with a father and his young son, operating a minibus taxi. The father very proudly told the interviewer that he pays his son R85 a day to work for him.
Sadly, it completely slips that father’s mind that he has created a situation where that young child will be an unskilled citizen, probably for the rest of his life.
The onus is on us as society, as communities, as parents, as teachers, to take note of this growing threat, and blatant abuse by these ignorant parents, to the future of our children.
