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Protect Children in South Africa

Date Added: Jan. 20, 2002
Last Updated: Oct. 26, 2007

In this e-petition, we're told of a terrible crime that was committed against a young child and that this heinous act is merely indicative of the much larger problem of widespread child abuse. We are then told that, despite this rise, officials are considering closing the very part of the justice system that prevents such crimes.

Over the last few weeks in South Africa , a two year old was abducted from her crèche and raped and left in the bush, where she was found crawling around and crying, by an old woman, two hours after her abduction.

Another child in a pre-primary school was molested, and the authorities have done nothing. We have all heard the story of Sheldean Human who was abducted and brutally murdered close to her home.

A while ago a 3 year old girl was beaten and raped. She is still alive. The man responsible was released on bail. He is walking the streets.

If you are too busy to read this then just sign your name and forward this on.

The Government is planning to close the child protection unit and this is a petition against it. This is a very important petition. It is an essential part of the justice system for children.

You may have already heard that there's a myth in South Africa that having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. The younger the virgin, the more potent the cure.

This has led to an epidemic of rapes by infected males, with the correspondent infection of innocent kids. Many have died in these cruel rapes.

Recently in Cape Town , a 9-month-old baby was raped by 6 men. Please think about that for a moment.

The child abuse situation is now reaching catastrophic proportions and if we don't do something, then who will?

Kindly add your name to the bottom of the list and please pass this on to as many people as you know. If you are signature no.: 200 - please forward the mail-list to childprotectpca@saps.org.za Please don't be complacent, do something about the kids of South Africa . You can make a difference.

This is just one of the million cases of child abuse, so please pledge your support and help keep CPU (CHILD PROTECTION UNIT) open. Please give your support to the petition and ensure that it goes to as many people as possible. Please don't just leave it, make a difference. In order to write your name copy this message and paste it in a new mail (compose). Or click on forward and add your name to the list and send it on to others. All these losers must get the death penalty.

Again, if you are number 200 please send this to childprotectpca@saps.org.za

The events and sentiment behind this chain letter date back to 1995. The first version of a chain letter about it began circulating in 2001. The version above first surfaced in mid-2007. By late 2007, the chain picked up speed online thanks, in no small part, to the addition of a shocking (and completely unrelated) photo of a decapitated child.

Any violent crime toward young children is appalling in virtual every societySo, it's not surprising that the desire to forward this chain is strong. This chain offers the promise that you can make a difference and offer safety and hope to all the children of South Africa simply by adding your name to this cause. This promise ignores the limitations of e-mail as a mass communications medium and causes all sorts of problems for South African officials.

SA Police spokesperson Ronnie Naidoo equates this chain to a scam and offers many reasons why it shouldn't be forwarded:

“Thousands of these hoax e-mail lists are forwarded to various sections within the police, especially the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit. This results in a waste of valuable time, which could be utilised to attend to serious and urgent matters.

“Hoax e-mails relating to the closure of the ‘child protection units', cases of kidnapping, rape, HIV/Aids, etc, have been circulating since 1995. The main and only aspect which has changed over the years is the severity of the false information. The latest hoax e-mail contains disturbing photographs of the body of an unknown decapitated boy.

“The South African Police Service does not have any involvement in the compilation or distribution of these hoax e-mails and distances itself from these hoax e-mails."

BreakTheChain.org recommends against signing or passing on any e-petition, no matter how noble the cause. To demonstrate, let's put this one through the Seven Tests of Armchair Activism:

Expiration - FAILED - The petition appears to have started circulating online around the end of October, 2001, but Naidoo indicates it's been around since at least 1995. Unfortunately, the chain gives no specific date as to when the supposed closing of the CPU will happen nor does it indicate how long signatures will be collected.
Focus - FAILED - Like most e-mail petition, this one does a lot to paint a very grim and often graphic picture of the situation. In fact, it seems more focuesd on convincing that there's problem than it does on actually working toward a solution. Some have even suggested that the chain advocates supporting the status quo.
Integrity - FAILED - Petitions that ask you to send "completed" versions to the party whose actions you are trying to influence amount to e-mail bombing. An organization that is inundated with hundreds - even thousands - of copies of a petition it didn't sponsor or expect is not likely to commit the personnel and time required to compile the signatures and weed out duplicates. According to Naidoo, the childprotectpca@saps.org.za address "does not exist within the South African Police Service.” He points out that when the e-mail is returned to the sender, it is then often forwarded to any number of other existing police e-mail addresses, creating even more headache.
Privacy - FAILED - E-mail petitions offer absolutely no privacy to those who "sign" and forward them. Your personal information - including name and e-mail address - are passed around the globe for a long time and you have absolutely no control over who receives it. Unfortunately, this one does not provide an alternative, safer way to sign (i.e., via a web site), either.
Reliability - FAILED - Since the fate of the petition is up to the South African Police Service, who are on record as not supporting it, it is reasonable to call this one unreliable at best.
Sponsorship - FAILED - The originator of this petition did not identify himself or herself and offers no assurance that its goal will be accomplished. While I'm sure his or her intentions were good, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Validity - FAILED - The basic claim in this version - that the South African Police Service is closing its Child Protection Unit - isn't true. It was rumored in 2001, but South African Safety and Security Ministry officials denied it then and the CPU remains open today. As Naidoo points out: “The protection of children is a priority area [for the police]. The first child protection unit (CPU) was already established in 1986 due to this. ”

In fact, the CPU is doing quite well, having recently been expanded to include adult victims of sexual offences and rechristened the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit (FCS).

Violent crime is appalling in virtual every society, but it is especially heinous when children are involved. So, it's not surprising that the desire to forward this chain is strong. This chain offers the promise that you can make a difference and offer safety and hope to all the children of South Africa. Unfortunately, the specific problem it attempts to remedy doesn't actually exist and the promises the chain makes are hollow.

Officials ask that you do not forward this chain to friends, family or collegues, nor to the South African Police Service at any e-mail address. Break this Chain!

References: Snopes.com, TruthOrFiction.com, ITWeb

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