Teach children decent values - Tutu
2012-04-29 16:02
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Johannesburg - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has called on parents to teach their children better values and for the rich to help the poor.
"If we raised our children with decent values, surely incidents such as the gang rape of the apparently mentally impaired teenage girl in Soweto 10 days ago could never have happened," he wrote in a letter published in the Sunday Times.
He expressed alarm that over the past 18 years, South Africa had moved from an "organised nation of activists for social change", to a nation preoccupied with the accumulation of personal wealth.
He responded to criticism of his statement last year that the wealthy, who were mainly white, should use some of their money to help the poor.
"Surely it is not outrageous to suggest that it would be in the interests of the 'haves' to contribute to a more equitable, stable and sustainable society? If not in cash, then in kind," he wrote.
The poor too, he said, had a responsibility to work for the common good and could make contributions that did not depend on wealth. This included making sure children went to school, joining neighbourhood watches, and helping neighbours.
"Living in filthy and unhygienic conditions is not necessarily a product of poverty," he wrote.
- SAPA
