NONHLANHLA NCUBE-NDABA | Down' parties after exams lead our kids astray

SA must find a way to eradicate alcohol use by children when celebrating milestones in their schooling careers.

Alcohol (ab)use, particularly by children attending schools in towns, is cause for concern and can directly be linked and traced to something called “Pens Down”.

“Pens Down” is a modern trend where students from all schools in a district converge and binge on alcohol, to, in the language of young people: “party”. These “parties” occur in different venues that include congregating at local beaches. The legal age for the consumption of alcohol in SA is 18 years, but this law is often disregarded at these seemingly unsupervised events.

With young people being under the influence of alcohol and other substances, they are often unaware of the dangers that surround them – in some instances they are surreptitiously joined by not-so-well-meaning older men, which places young women in particular in danger of various forms of abuse. The risk of incidents of violence among youth is also heightened. Often the organisers of these events are also aware of the risks and danger but do not implement measures to mitigate these. Frequently this is also where experimentation with alcohol and other substances begins.

Surely, this is not who we are as South Africans, but sadly it is who we are slowly becoming.

So many children have been lost through this trending phenomena. It is becoming more than a trend and moving towards a culture, becoming somewhat expected and acceptable at the end of every school term, with children as young as twelve going on a binge party or “pens down” of some sort.

On June 26 last year, 21 children from the community of Scenery Park, just outside East London, lost their lives in an unfortunate incident at a local tavern known as Enyobeni tavern. The allegation is that the owners endangered young children and youth by:

i) allowing them to flock into an enclave-holding;

ii) allowing free entry with little to no security checks;

iii) permitting underage and binge drinking

iv) exposing the patrons to a substance or equipment that emits carbon monoxide, which was exacerbated by congestion of the venue, and

v) not being on the premises on the night in question.

The consequence of that act of negligence and disregard for children was that 21 children were found strewn over chairs and tables, some still holding bottles of alcohol in their hands, sadly, never to rise again. Although the cause of death remains inconclusive, suffocation through breathing monoxide gas is suspected.

While that remains what is conclusive is that 21 children perished, and alcohol use and abuse played a significant role, and for it SA will forever be shamed.

The Enyobeni incident, for which owners are currently in court, is a  tragedy that the country will never recover from. The incident should have been a moment to pause and reset for all involved in schooling and should have necessitated a more drastic action against this behaviour. There are things that parents should not tolerate when it comes to children’s behaviour; also, there are non-negotiables. I submit that alcohol (ab)use by underage school goers is non-negotiable.

Alcohol use by children should not be tolerated.

*Ncube-Ndaba is the chairperson of the portfolio committee on women, youth and persons with disabilities