This Tuesday Special Assignment returns to the streets
of Cape Town to follow up our recent investigation into
paedophiles preying on the city’s street children. We
expose some of the “bunnies” who have abused both girl
and boy children, seemingly with impunity. City
officials, NGOs and the police are aware of the problem.
But to date, very little has been done to secure the
rights of street children and to take action against
these sexual predators. As a result Cape Town is
becoming a paedophiles’ paradise – a twenty-four hour a
day red light district where the street children can
literally be picked up off the streets at will and whim.
Many of the children have run away from dysfunctional
families, where poverty, unemployment and domestic abuse
are rife. They see the city as an escape from
deprivation. But these children soon become sucked into
the city’s sordid underbelly, lured by paedophiles to
perform sexual acts with adults in exchange for money or
drugs. The damage inflicted on these children is
incalculable.
Even if they are not physically harmed,
they are “seduced” into associating kindness with sex,
in very much the same way that a stray
cat will follow
the person who offers it food and affection. The
children become confused about their sexual identity and
angry because they feel humiliated and stripped of their
dignity. Many of them act out their rage in destructive
ways: through self abuse and violence perpetrated on
others. Consequently the street children of today are in
danger of becoming the violent adult criminals of
tomorrow.
But many street children are now determined to speak out
about the abuse. It is our duty as adults and as
signatories to the South African Children’s Charter to
support them.
Bunny Town: The Kids Speak Out
is directed by Hazel Friedman and was filmed by Shamiel
Albertyn.
