Statement by the Steve Biko Children’s Program (SBCP)—The SBCP is an initiative of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement-South Africa, which is a mass organization of the African People’s Socialist Party.
Children by nature require protection and guardianship from the adult population of their society. Every nation has the responsibility to ensure the well-being and safety of its children. This is both African tradition and the biological rule of any ecosystem within the global biosphere in which we exist. Why then do African people fail consistently to ensure this basic necessity of life and development for our children? How can Cwecwe, a seven-year-old child be violated through molestation by an old colonizer (white man) who in his arrogance goes further to harass the victim’s mother?
It would be utterly disingenuous to address the case of Cwecwe in isolation from the overall assault that African children in particular and the entire colonized population suffer on a daily basis. We cannot neglect the many Black children who go to sleep on empty stomachs when our people produce enough food to feed the entire world. The fact that parents feel compelled to take their children to schools where they are not wanted and are unable to express themselves freely, just because the schools in our communities are under-resourced and therefore can only offer low quality education, is a betrayal in itself.
Our people did not fight to be integrated into spaces that hold values that are alien to our culture and humanity. We fought for total liberation and self-determination, something we don’t have and thus continue to be vulnerable to such horrific abuses. Cwecwe is a victim of colonialism, and betrayal by neocolonial leadership.
The case of this young Black girl cannot be reduced to a mere hashtag or social media trend when it is a signal of deeper unresolved issues of settler colonialism and how our people have been left exposed to all forms of violence. Colonialism in itself is violence, something we live with on a daily basis in these God-forsaken concentration camps, euphemistically referred to as townships. Since 1994 when a Black neocolonial government took office, our lives have not seen any meaningful transformation, and thus our oppressors continue to feel emboldened to violate our people with impunity. Let us organize and take responsibility for our children’s safety!
We demand justice for Cwecwe and her family!
Contact the SBCP: uhuruazania123@gmail.com, Phone/WhatsApp: +27 79 198 6559
