-
-
SABRIC recently released its annual banking crime statistics. We inform you about the banking-related crimes that increased and decreased so that you can mitigate the risks. Read the article published in Servamus: August 2020 on p40 to p41.
-
Do you have a problem with gambling? We provide tips on how to identify if you have a problem; remind you about legal versus illegal gambling/betting and where to get help. Read the article published in Servamus: August 2020 on p50 to p53.
-
Chief Kenny Africa, also known as Mr 24-7 has served the road safety community for more than four decades. He retired on 31 July 2020. Read more about his passions, highlights and the message he has for young traffic officers in an article published in Servamus: August 2020 on p58 and p59.
-
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
By Kotie Geldenhuys
Photos by Kabelo Mokoena and the Internet
It was a difficult start to the 2020 school year. In Gauteng, several learners had died in various tragic accidents. These included the drowning of Enoch Mpianzi from Park Town Boys High on 15 January 2020 at a school camp and the death of Laticia Jansen from Dukathole in Germiston on 22 January 2020. This young teenager was stranded as the departmental scholar transport had left earlier that morning than scheduled. This made her an easy target for her perpetrators who brutally raped and murdered her before setting her body alight. On 11 February 2020, Kelobogile Molopyane fell to his death from a second- floor balcony at Ferndale High School.
Read more: The impact of traumatic incidents at school
May a public school be held liable when things go wrong? 
By Annalise Kempen
When the news broke in January 2020 about a schoolboy who had drowned during a school orientation camp in North West, many parents were impacted by the fact that something similar could so easily happen to their own children. And yet, it is a sad fact that the 13-year-old Enoch Mpianzi, who drowned during a Parktown Boys High School orientation camp, was not the first school learner to have died while attending school or a school activity. In fact, by 6 March 2020, Enoch was one of 22 learners who had already died in the Gauteng province for the 2020 school year (Majavu, 2020). One of the other victims was a 14-year-old youth who was in Gr 10 at the Freedom Park Secondary School who was stabbed to death by a fellow learner.
Read more: To sue or not to sue
By Kotie Geldenhuys
It boggles one's mind when the innocence of a child meets the severity of a violent crime like murder. Yet, there are a number of cases in South Africa where children became brutal murderers. It included the case where learners from the Waterkloof Hoërskool, namely Reinach Tiedt, Gert van Schalkwyk, Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez, who were aged between 14 and 16 at the time, murdered a homeless man in a park in the east of Pretoria in December 2001. They later became known as the Waterkloof Four (Sosibo, 2014). Then there was the shocking incident that happened in April 2012, when 15-year-old Don Steenkamp murdered his mother, father and sister on their farm outside Griekwastad in the Northern Cape (Kwan Hoo, 2014). At the time when they committed their crimes, these murderers where minors and protected under the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008.
Read more: From innocent children to dangerous criminals
By Annalise Kempen
Do you realise that bullying is a form of child abuse?
It is so serious that the legislature specifically mentions it in the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 where “abuse”, in relation to a child, means any form of harm or ill-treatment deliberately inflicted on a child, and includes bullying by another child.
Servamus - August 2020
Pollex - August 2020
Letters - August 2020
Servamus' Mission
Servamus is a community-based safety and security magazine for both members of the community as well as safety and security practitioners with the aim of increasing knowledge and sharing information, dedicated to improving their expertise, professionalism and service delivery standards. It promotes sound crime management practices, freedom of speech, education, training, information sharing and a networking platform.
