ATHLONE
TUESDAY 22 September 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
@ThePeoplesPost
People’s Post
LANSDOWNE POLICE PRECINCT
‘No child trafficking in area’ SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS SAMANTHA.LEE@PEOPLESPOST.CO.ZA @SAMANTHA_LEE121
A
viral social media post alleging child trafficking syndicates are active in Lansdowne has been debunked. The post, which has since been removed, alleged that a group of foreign men were operating a child-trafficking syndicate and taking children from the area. On Sunday 13 September, Community Policing Forum (CPF) chair Rafique Foflonker released a statement to a shaken community to set their minds at ease. “There is no evidence to support this claim. If even one child went missing, we would engage the missing person (child) protocol immediately. Police would fully engage and the community would also be mobilised via the CPF to bring additional resources to the search efforts,” he says. The #SaveOurChildren campaign has trended worldwide recently, encouraging parents around the globe to acknowledge child trafficking and the severity of the crime. This has seen news and statistics, posts and opinions shared widely across social media platforms. With the flurry of information, it is unclear what is true and what is not. Foflonker says to People’s Post that the numbers should be challenged.
“If human trafficking was such a huge problem, it would feature in the police crime statistics. Most of the missing children cases are not kidnappings, they are children running away. There are genuine cases where children are not found and our hearts bleed for them because where are they?” he asks. Lansdowne police station commander, Col Shawn van Wyk, says police took notice of the post. “To date, no cases or incidents of missing children have been reported to this office. To spread such fake news is dangerous and can cause unrest, panic and fear among the community and this is not needed as we are already dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic which has already instilled fear and worry in the hearts of the community,” he says. Mark Kleinschmidt, the councillor for ward 60, says he was also alerted to the post and immediately contacted police management. Foflonker says many children are left unattended in Lansdowne, daily. “There are many, many children who play unattended and unsupervised in the parks, streets, next to the canals, not to mention the kids that roam the streets aimlessly and loiter at the robots and shops. These kids are technically easy targets. Yet, there are no missing person reports related to them currently.” He adds, because of how freely children play, many could be taken from these loca-
tions instead of being stalked. “If a child trafficking ring was operating, they would not need to stalk children at schools or shopping malls.” Another post currently circulating alleges the Chinese mafia is operating in the Cape Town area, According to the post, gangsters and drug addicts are being offered R10 000 per child. These claims have not been confirmed by any law enforcement agencies. Foflonker says keyboard warriors should think twice as there is a large foreign community in Lansdowne who work and live there. “Please think carefully before forwarding messages like this to others. It can lead to anxiety, panic attacks, xenophobia and violence – overreactions to non-existent problems,” he says. “Parents used to scare us, telling us a van was in the area stealing children. Then there was no social media. Now parents put things on social media to scare them because their children are on social media,” he says. Van Wyk calls on parents to not share fake news and keep watch over their children. “(We plead with) all parents or guardians to please be extra vigilant in knowing the exact whereabouts of your children. Please keep watch over them at all times, do not let them out of your sight. This office cannot express the importance of this.” Kleinschmidt says: “(Sharing fake news) is dangerous because of the scourge of child abuse and gender-based violence (currently taking place). Our children are under threat.
Parents are alert and on guard against any potential threat to their children. “The social media authorities must take strict actions against those perpetrators found guilty of fabricating and spreading fake news. Parents and social media users must authenticate all alerts and information before posting.” Foflonker adds the viral video of the Johannesburg attempted kidnapping could be behind the surfacing of the post. He says the seriousness of the issue cannot be ignored but could have even bigger consequences, especially if the information surrounding a case or incident is fake. Kleinschmidt says: “Residents are alerted that child abuse is rife and seemingly on the increase, and until the sexual predator offenders register is released in South Africa, we live in fear. Parents must be a lot more vigilant regarding the whereabouts of their children. “We see many children who should be in school walking the streets and begging at traffic lights. I propose that the Western Cape Education Department appoints a truancy officer for each region, and monitor truancy because these children are at risk. “The media reports that child trafficking is on the increase as unscrupulous criminals prey on the abduction and human trafficking of juveniles. “We remember the adage of yesteryear, that ‘children must be seen and not hurt’.”