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'Only a little girl'
14/03/2007 13:25 - (SA)
Christel Raubenheimer, Beeld
Pretoria - God used a little girl to make a difference in South Africa.
This was the opinion of Pastor Andries Nel at a memorial service for the murdered Sheldean Human, 7, in Cronjépark in Pretoria Gardens.
About 2 000 people attended the service.
The little blonde girl whose death sent shock waves through the country, was on Tuesday buried in a white coffin with pink flowers.
Photographs of her were stuck to the hearse.
"She was but seven-years-old, almost eight. She was a small girl and look what she did - even as she was no longer here. We have to ask ourselves: What have you done with your life?"
Look after children
Hundreds of people attended the service with pink ribbons pinned to their clothes, and listened to a plea that people in future take great care when looking after not only their own children, but also those of neighbours, friends and family.
Many Rossouw reported that a senior policeman at a separate venue said it was not police who had failed Sheldean, but the community.
Commissioner Arno Lamoer said at a media information session that the open society in which South Africans lived, offered many opportunities but also dangers. He said Sheldean was not taken by strangers, but by someone whom she knew and trusted. This showed, he said that people who looked only at the State for their safety, should start looking at themselves.
"Society has changed and more parents are not at home, with family values being less strong than in the past. People don't realise that it is their own responsibility to secure themselves. They would rather point a finger at police if something happens to them".
He said the attention that was given to Sheldean's situation was disproportionate compared to similar cases.
"There are incidents every day in which children disappear and then we don't pay as much attention."
He said people had to start caring again about each other and that even in gated communities/secure estates, there were still cases where neighbours did not know each other and therefore did not look out for one another.
He warned that such fenced/secure communities were often targeted by organised crime as they were cut off from the rest of the neighbourhood.
He said it was the police's greatest challenge to fight the crime that took place between people who knew each other.
"How do we intrude on a family unit? What do you say when a man tells you he has the right to give his child a hiding?"
According to him, church communities should take a closer look at social issues that led to crime and violence.
He said the police could not be expected to take responsibility for everything.
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