COLUMN: Snap to it
by
2007-04-02 15:10
Francois Faber, News24 User
In South Africa we have a major problem with crime, especially against woman and children. According to the government they are doing the best they can, but parents disagree.
In this shifting of responsibility it seems as though children have decided to do the grown up thing and take care of the problem with what they've got, cellphones.
Let's face it; no child in school really needs a cellphone. All the chatting and dating online is only dealing children's attention span another hard blow.
Yet there is one function that a cellphone has that appears to be a child's defence against disbelieving parents and doubting officers, the camera.
A child's word does not carry much weight when compared to that of a teacher, but once again history educates us that seeing is believing. There has been an increasing number of children stepping forward with footage taken from their cellphones that have caught the nation by surprise.
The defending offenders can try their best to prove these accusations as false, but there is just no use in arguing with the evidence.
A tool for your own protection
I really think that we must encourage children to use this tool for their own protection. If they see something happen to one of their fellow learners then they should record it. A lot of children that are being abused do not want to cry out because they think that no one will believe them.
This will help us to root out the unworthy teachers that ignore the law and still continue with physical punishment.
This might be a highly controversial idea that has its drawbacks, but while this county's crime against children is on the rise let us at least provide a method to give our children the confidence to overcome their abusers and speak out.
The nice thing about this whole idea is that once the footage is recorded you don't have to keep it on your cell phone until you get to the authorities. The footage can be sent as an MMS to someone immediately.
As with every tree of fruit bearing potential there is of course the odd rotten fruit. Childhood is our cruellest form in our steady march to old age, and cellphone cameras can incite cruel behaviour.
(There have been some video clips in the media recently of children beating each other and committing animal cruelty.)
But the days of two different scenarios for the same event being argued in court are nearing their end as more and more people are using there cell phones to create unarguable evidence.
Let the cell phone cameras be the new ears and eyes of justice. The more people realise that what ever they do might be recorded will hopefully discourage negative actions. So go on children let the cameras roll!
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