A child with burn wounds is turned away, siblings are unable to stay together, and vulnerable young lives are left in limbo because no beds are available.
These disturbing incidents are not isolated cases but a warning that the situation could become worse.
Zanethemba Charity Foundation, a small but vital temporary safe care facility in Walmer, Gqeberha, has reached breaking point.
It is only able to accommodate six children at a time.
Pressure is mounting on the facility, and it is now being forced to turn away the very children it is meant to protect.
These are victims of abuse, neglect and abandonment. Some are in urgent need of intervention.
The pressure is clearly systemic and highlights a growing child-care emergency in the city.
To address the crisis, the foundation has been working to secure a permanent property to expand its services and care for more children.
Its vision includes having multiple houses on one property to create a more stable and supportive environment.
Zanethemba requires R5.8m to purchase the land it has earmarked and to develop the facility.
At Dora Nginza Hospital, children who are medically fit for discharge remain in paediatric wards because there is nowhere safe for them to go.
Hospital beds become makeshift shelters.
The government’s response reflects a worrying disconnect with what is happening on the ground.
The assertion that the department of social development was not aware that children were being turned away is, at best, an indictment of poor oversight, and at worst, a sign of dangerous complacency.
The suggestion that alternative arrangements can be made by liaising with other organisations ignores the reality on the ground.
Child protection cannot be left to the goodwill of NGOs and the generosity of donors alone.
Eastern Cape social development MEC Bukiwe Fanta said the plan to increase the number of funded temporary care facilities was a provincial competence.
But this is not a problem that can be deferred to the next budget cycle or buried in the administrative process.
It requires urgent government investment, backed by the same urgency to assist.
The Herald
