Hanover Park. Picture: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Election season has started, with politicians travelling across the country. On April 16, a circus came to Mount View High School in Hanover Park.
The main topic for a panel discussion that evening was the crime in the area. Many political parties came to the school.
The event was seen as an opportunity for the broader Hanover Park community to get answers from the police minister and MEC on the issue.
Instead, political parties took over and it almost became a street brawl. The one party wanted to be seen as better than the other.
The leaders on the panel – who were invited by presenter Professor JJ Tabane (of the Power to Truth show on eNCA) – engaged each other and the topic of crime was not addressed.
Or maybe it was addressed, but not in an orderly manner. This was disgusting because politics became more important than the topic.
The community were also rude, abusive and disorderly, and all this played out on national TV. I hope the authorities can see what teachers at Hanover Park schools must endure on a daily basis – that parents can be vulgar and undisciplined, swearing, making obscene gestures and arguing among each other.
What do the authorities think of the learners that go to schools in the area?
Authorities want results and statistics.
But children in Hanover Park do not want to engage in academics.
Educators must perform magic to teach a child who comes out of these homes. That is what authorities expect from educators. But the many social ills are ignored.
The belief is if, and only if, we want crime in the area to be non-existent, we need a child that has stable, disciplined parents with values and morals.
The saying in Hanover Park is teach the many parents in the area to be good parents (put them back into school) before teaching their children.
There was no way that the issue of crime in the area could be addressed in the hostile environment inside the Mount View High School hall.
No solution was discussed on the evening when the circus arrived.
God bless Hanover Park.
* PN Hendricks, Hanover Park.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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