10 Years Old In The Slums of South Africa

I initially had the intention to only take a few pictures showing the routine of children in informal settlements, I didn’t think I’d find out the dangers these kids face every day.

Among other challenges they have to overcome, like going to school or bed on an empty stomach, they also face being electrocuted by the wires that have been connected illegally for electricity.

It’s a vicious cycle of poor service delivery and also the fact that the same ‘’officials’’ elected seem to forget the promises they made to try improve the lives of the less fortunate.

Children in the informal settlements are endangered due to the rise of cable theft and the parents of these children say that they are tired of empty promises from the government — due to lack of service delivery at the expense of their children’s lives.

Sbongile Madala, a resident of the settlements and parent of a child who had been injured before said, “It gets even worse when it rains. My child was injured a few weeks ago and burnt her arm. Since then, many others have been hurt.”

After getting consent her from father, a 10-year-old girl explained to me the conditions they are exposed to whilst playing. “I was playing with my friends when I slipped and fell. My hand landed on an open wire and ing’shokhile (it electrocuted me).

I couldn’t move and my friends called my uncle who came and hit me with a wooden plank. My arm is still sore and I cannot move my fingers properly,” said the girl. She then goes on to show me where she had fallen and the wire that had electrocuted her. In vernacular live wires are called, inyoka nyoka, which means snakes.

Residents say that as soon as a child begins to crawl and walk around, they are at risk of being electrocuted as they are too young to understand the dangers of live wires.

Meanwhile, South African Police Services (SAPS) says, “We are aware of the dangers caused by criminals who are stealing and that children are being electrocuted by live wires that are hanging in the streets.” SAPS carries on to say meetings are being conducted to help find a solution.

Although South Africa has been liberated for more than 20 years, if children and others are dying because of circumstance and university graduates are standing at the robots asking for jobs, many of the things we have fought for still have not been addressed.