The young 11 year-old boy, who is in place of safety until his second appearance in court in connection the death of six year-old Decan Anoster in February, is reportedly a street child who has been living in the bush with other children in a similar predicament.
This came to light late last month after the held juvenile appeared in the Humansdorp court. He has apparently been living in the bush for some time along with other kids. He and five other children were with Decan at 3 am in the bush before Decan was murdered it has been alleged.
St Francis Chronicle went in search of the bush children on 3 March. Together with a Calibre security guard a spot was found behind the industrial area where children from the ages 12 are apparently sleeping in the bush.
The spot was a deep donga or dried out pond that had bulrushes growing in it. Clothing that would fit a six year-old and a 12 year year-old was found alongside the donga and there was black plastic fastened to a pole under which the children shelter, plus more plastic and other scattered clothing items in the vicinity.
There were no signs of the children and despite a thorough search for them they remained illusive. Some residents said they were hiding in some of the previous ‘shelter’ houses. After the murder, the residents said, the bush children were too scared to sleep in the wild/ They had grabbe dmost of their things and left in a hurry.
It was revealed to us by some Sea Vista residents that the children go to the rubbish tip near Cape St Francis daily to forage for more plastic and for food along with the goats. They are chased away from the rubbish tip by the marshals there it appears so have to find somewhere else to sleep at night. The children are either all orphans or they have run away from home for various reasons.
In 2004 St Francis Chronicle also investigated the recurrent problem of children living in the bush. Children as young as 10 years old ran away from their homes in Sea Vista and lived like wild animals in the fynbos. Moreover there were several reports of some of these youngsters having committed bestiality and petty thefts. Plus they were sniffing glue or smoking dagga.
The owners in charge of the SPCA at the time rescued three dogs and a goat that had been sexually molested. The dogs had to be put down. Councillors and social workers also reported having received tip offs from residents about bestiality and cruelty to animals.
A fact-finding mission was organised in 2004 by St Francis Chronicle and the then Cacadu Municipality Councillor, Elza van Lingen. The group that included SAP representatives and a social worker, scoured the area behind the Sea Vista rubbish area and the squatter shacks.
After a couple of hours three make-shift campsites littered with rubbish and uncovered human faeces were found. The stench was abominable.
Fynbos branches were haphazardly strewn with pink, blue and black plastic to make tents, under which about 12 children slept at night. Dirty torn sheets, blankets and mattresses, and odd bits of clothing, plus many empty bottles were also found.
On the group’s approach all the children ran away into the fynbos, however, two aged 10 and 14, knew Erna Vermaak from the Department of Social Welfare in Humansdorp and decided to join our delegation.Erna used to regularly work with families and children in Sea Vista.
According to Erna around a dozen youngsters lived in the tents and at least one of the older boys in the group of ‘runaways’ had been in reform school. Young children were being influenced and/ or exposed to criminal elements by the elder children.
Erna revealed back in 2004 there is a lack of reform schools and children are being discharged without anyone ensuring that they are released into proper parental care. nd it appears not much has changed in nine years.
St Francis Chronicle spoke at that time to the two children who remained behind and they claimed they did want to stay at home as there are problems there, such as fighting and drinking. Nor do they want to go to school but it is unclear why – they just shook their heads at the mention of school.
The police accompanied by Erna and myself took the two children back to their parents’ homes. An uncle at one house said his nephew refused to go to school and showed us a nice bed where he could sleep, but the nephew refused to stay there. At the other, the granny said her grandchild had no father and his mother was in hospital. She also said he ‘ran away’ periodically.
As for the acts of bestiality, the police were unable to arrest the culprits as the eyewitnesses feared for their safety and did not want to reveal names. It is believed the witnesses received threats of having their homes burnt down if they reported the offences.
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