KNYSNA NEWS - On Friday 6 December, as part of the 16 Days of Activism, more than 100 children and young people from the after-school club MADaboutART and the surrounding communities, marched from the St Boniface Catholic Church in Queen Street to the municipal offices to present a memorandum to the mayor, calling on the Knysna municipality to implement and safeguard children's right to play.
Situated in Dam-se-Bos South, MADaboutART, which was started in 2003, focuses on providing children with skills development, and helping them to make positive choices in their lives.
Beautiful artworks
At the municipal offices, the young marchers, some of them carrying beautiful artworks, "said 'no!' to unclean, unsupervised play spaces, 'no!' to building houses on play spaces, and 'yes!' to safe play spaces, 'yes!' to play spaces being cleaned every day, 'yes!' to clean beaches (and) 'yes!' to safe places to hang out with friends", the team at MADaboutART said.
"The children called on the mayor to do more to develop Knysna as a child-friendly town, and to involve them in developing safe child-friendly spaces in our town.
'UN convention'
"This call is underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlines the fundamental rights of every child. South Africa, along with almost 200 other countries, has signed this legally-binding agreement, which recognises the importance of play in children's lives and commits to protect the rights of children."
Partner organisations
Several partner organisations joined the march, including KILT, Umdndeni LGBTQi Group, the Knysna Education Trust and the Community Police Forum, among others. The event was organised in partnership with Rockstone & Pebbles, a UK charity that supports children in accessing their right to play.
'We need to take it seriously'
After receiving the memorandum, the mayor, Aubrey Tsengwa, said: "I have never before experienced children marching so that seems to suggest there is a problem of which we as the leadership of this council need to address.
"Because the kids have marched to the municipality we need to take it very seriously, and I am committed to engaging with all councillors, to say 'there was this important march and it's important for us to deliver in terms of what the kids require us to do.'"
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
