When you arrest hungry people, you are basically criminalizing hunger. The stories of mothers being caught and arrested for shoplifting are heart breaking. Looking at them being taken into the security rooms as the arrival of police is anticipated is the most horrifying and heart breaking view anyone can ever imagine. You can just imagine how the suspects normally feel at the time. Worst of all you’d have bystanders that whispers and watch this heart breaking scene.
I remember the first time I witnessed a case of this nature, I was numb. The thought of probably a 3 months old baby hungry and crying terrorized me to a near tears situation. It is not being stupid, it is not being a criminal it is being poor that got her in that situation. Mothers can’t bear the sight of their hungry babies, they’d rather go out there and do whatever it takes to get their babies fed. The arrests became so many it was at some point a crime for women to walk into a shop with a baby on her back (she would be subjected to an ultra scan search).
Well the supermarkets came up with a solution, the decided to lock the baby stuff up and put an extra camera on that row. Well first it makes sense to put that extra security since baby stuff are amongst the highest priced items in super markets. The problem is what should happen? The SASSA grant is not enough to cover the expenses of babies. I mean how does the government expect a child to be fed with R350 every month? Now the poor black mothers are potential suspects, they are subjected to the worst possible inhuman experience. Seeing their babies cry because they are hungry.
Now what do you do in your own personal capacity? There must be something you and I can do. There must be that one neighbor you know about who struggles to put food on the table. Maybe once a month when you go for your shopping, you buy them a pack of mealie meal, or three or four canned food. Let’s do what we can to stop hunger. What you do might mean the world to someone.
#UBUNTU
Article By Dimo Wa Moraswi Sekele
