Lunchbox Bullies

 

00:00:00-  IN

 

00:00:11 – TEXT

 

A child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.

 

00:00:25 – TEXT

 

Every child has the right to family care or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care when removed from the family environment.

 

Every child has the right to basic nutrition, basic health care services and social services.

 

Every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation.

 

00:00:48 – Montage boys in classroom.

 

“My head was bleeding. They used a knife here.”

 

“I go to school hungry

 

“When other children are eating I just sit in the class”

 

“She grabs me, pulls me back and forth and slams me against the wall”

 

00:01:28 – TEXT

 

The childcare act of 1987 makes it a criminal offence if a person who has to maintain a child does not provide the child with clothes, housing, and medical care.

 

-       Extract from the Bill of Rights Article 28 entitled Children.

 

00:01:46 - SPEAKER

 

“The Teacher said we mustn’t bother him with our problems”

 

00:01:50 – TITLE CARD

 

‘LUNCHBOX BULLIES’

 

Montage bustling playground and classroom.

 

00:03:12 – SPEAKER ‘GIFT’

 

“My friends are Bongani, Bafana, James…Thabo”

“Did I mention Bafana?”

 

00:03:38- SPEAKER - KHANYISANI

 

“Bongani is my friend”

 

“The teacher sent us somewhere”

“He asked me where I’m staying and ig he could visit. He started visiting me and that’s how we became friends”.

 

00:04:07 – SPEAKER – PATRICK – SCHOOL TEACHER

 

“Bongani’s nickname is Obama because he looks like Obama. That’s why they call him Obama”.

 

 

00:04:17 – SPEAKER- CAROLINE – OBAMA’S GREAT AUNT

 

“When I saw Obama’s picture I thought he looked just like Bongani.”

“When Obama won the election I said we should go to the USA and tell him he has a son”

“But it was only a joke”

 

00:04:34 – SPEAKER – PATRICK

 

“Obama seems to be alright.”

“From the outside he looks like any child but he has emotional issues”

“But when he starts acting out, then you realise that he has problems”.

“He steals…and beats other children”

 

00:04:34 – SPEAKER – MZWAKHE ‘Gundi’

 

“They call my brother Rota (rat), and they call me Gundi (little mouse)”

‘We play, we write, we learn”

‘We all play together with Bongani in class”

“We buy food, we eat, then we spend time together”

 

00:04:32 – SPEAKER – PHINDI – MZWAKHE’S AUNT

 

“You wouldn’t be able to deal with Mzwakhe (Gundi) if you didn’t have patience. “

“Mzwakhe is like any other child”

“If you don’t have children or parenting experience then you won’t cope”

“He is naughty. He is so naughty”

“He gets us into trouble constantly. We always have to pay for the damage that he causes”

“He is mischevious”

 

00:05:57  SPEAKER – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“Thabo is not a bully. He’s a softy”

 

00:06:01 – SPEAKER – THABO


“I wish I could play for Kaiser chiefs”

“ I would like to play for chiefs. They have good players. I want to be like Itumeleng Khune.”

“Sometimes when we play we win, and sometimes we lose”

“It feels good to win and we even get medals”

 

00:06:01 – SPEAKER – NTOMBI

 

“Thabo excels at sports in school. He always wins. He loves soccer. He’ll even play in the rain”.

 

00:06:56 – SPEAKER – NORAH – GIFT’S GRANDMOTHER

 

‘Gift is my grandson. He lives with me because his mother died”

‘I am raising him.”

 

00:06:56 – SPEAKER – GIFT

 

‘When  was in grade 3 my mother passed away.”

“They used to tease me and say that my mother died of AIDS”

 

00:07:30 – SPEAKER – THEMBI – SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

 

“One of the main problems we face is that many of our learners have lost their parents”

“Most of my learners don’t have parents”

“Even if their mothers are around, they neglect them”

“We have bullies at the school”

“The reason that they are bullies is that they don’t get love at home”

“As a result, the learners come to school angry”

“The teachers try to give them as much love as they can. So that they can feel like normal children.”

 

00:08:36 – SPEAKER – PATRICK

 

“I remember the first time I came here. I had problems communicating with them”

“Until I researched their family backgrounds and discovered out more about their families”

“Firstly – they come from very poor families”

“Some of them are abused by their families”

“They have many different problems”

“Myself and a colleague from the school Mr Msweni, started a safety team”

“When there is an incident of bullying we sit down with the culprit and try to explain why their behaviour is wrong”

“We try to find out why the learners bully each other, We visit their homes and talk to the parents about bullying”

 

00:09:58 – SPEAKER - THEMBI

 

“My students have many problems at home.”

“As a teacher it’s important to know their backgrounds”

“Most of these children live with their grannies, because their mothers are young – children themselves”

 

00:10:19 – SPEAKER -TSHIBI

 

“When my granny was sick I was sad because I was afraid”

“I did not know what was going to happen to her”

‘I also had to cook even though I didn’t know what to cook”

“I asked granny what to cook but she was so sick she couldn’t talk”

 

00:11:50 – SPEAKER –THEMBI

 

“Last year Bongani (Obama) was in grade three. “

“I heard he was naughty and I called him to my office”

“..he said that it was him and his gang”

“I spoke to them”

“And said that they are still young and warned them that their behaviour would land then in jail”

 

00:12:27 – SPEAKER – OBAMA

 

“There was a boy who used to live on my street.”

“He used to go to class there”

‘He used to steal someone’s lunchbox and shared some of the food with me”

“I asked him to share with me”

“also stole his schoolbag”

“When… was grabbing the bag he noticed there was money in it”

‘And then the bell rang and I ran back to class”

‘I think …took the boy’s money and spent it. He took the bag to his house. “

“…accused me of stealing the bag – but I know he gave it to his older brother”

“My uncle beat us up”

 

00:13:13 – SPEAKER – MELUSI – OBAMA’S UNCLE

 

“When Bongani got here he was a good child”

“But after a while he started fighting and getting into trouble”

“For instance he started fighting with other kids at the car wash”

“He took out the knife at the car wash. I don’t know where he got the knife from”

“Bongani and his friends were skipping school”

“They were hanging around the suburbs getting up to mischief”

“They called us to the school and told us about their misbehaviour”

“They also said the Bongani is a bright kid at school”

‘I was with my friends”

“….sent us to steal a lady’s phone from her house whilst she was out fetching water”

“We went inside and stole the phone”

“We took out the SIM card and gave the card to …”

 

00:14:22– SPEAKER – OBAMA’S GREAT AUNTIE

 

“Bongani is naughty and he steals. You can’t leave anything lying around with him”

“Once he stole my whole paycheck and went to buy a bag full of toy guns”

‘when his mother heard about this. She said it served me right”

 

00:14:35 – SPEAKER – MELUSI

 

‘He always gets a beating when he misbehaves. But it does not look like it is helping. “

“Sometimes you need to sit him down and talk to him”

 

00:14:56 – SPEAKER –  THEMBI

 

“Bongani has a lot of scars and bruises all over his body”

“Which I am told he gets from beatings at home”

‘He does not just steal from his house. He is also known in his neighbourhood as a thief”

 

00:15:15 – SPEAKER –  OBAMA’S GREAT AUNTIE

 

‘Let me tell you what is happening with Bongani”

“His grandmother did not take care of her children”

“She just neglected them. So Bongani’s mother is doing the same with him”

‘He wants to be the boss, He is a brave boy and likes to lead”

“When his friends get up to mischief they look to him to lead”

“He will steal a packet of chips from a vendor at school and run”

“because he knows she will never chase him and leave her stall for just one packet”

“When he gets home he will tell you the story”

“To him it’s just a game. After all he is just a child”

 

00:16:03 – SPEAKER – MZWAKHE - ‘Gundi’

 

“Bongani is the one who starts the fights”

“Bongani throws my pen on the floor”

“When I try to pick it up he punches me”

“He keeps doing this even though I don’t fight back”

“When I report him to the teacher, the teacher says if I tell him again he’ll punish me”

 

00:16:40 – SPEAKER – GIFT

 

“Bongani is always teasing me and calling me a coward”

“When I first arrived at this school, Bongani used to threaten me”

“He used to hustle me for money”

“He kept taunting me”

“I told him I didn’t want to fight and warned him that I would hurt him”

“Bongani swears at me and says: Voertsak! I’m not scared of you”

“Bongani was on my case again. I ignored him and walked away”

“During break I went to our lunch area and Bongani started hitting me in the face”

“I told him that I didn’t want to hit him like Khanyisani had already done”

“I told Bongani I don’t want to fight with him”

‘He slapped me and I just kept quiet”

“Then I turned around and I hit him by mistake. Bongani started bleeding..”

“He said he was not afraid of me. Even though he was already bleeding”

“He went to wash his blood and we started fighting again”

 

00:18:04 – SPEAKER - PHINDI – MZWAKHE’S AUNT

 

“A neighbour told me that I needed to go to Mzwakhe’s school. “

“When I got there they told me that Mzwakhe and his ‘gang’ had been stealing stuff from other children”

“He had even taken another child’s bag with a lunchbox in it at school”

“They took out the lunchbox and threw the bag into the dustbin”

“They even ate the child’s food”

‘Thabo took my desk mate’s book. We were both reading from it. “

“Then she tried to hit Thabo and missed. She hit me and I hit her back”

 

 

00:19:24 – SPEAKER – CECILIA – THABO’S GRANDMOTHER

 

“Thabo has lost his manners and become a bully”

“His life at home is hard. That’s what is bothering him”

‘You would also be short-tempered if your were hungry”

“when he sees other kids with nice things, he envies them”

 

00:20:00 – SPEAKER – THABO

 

“there were these two girls”

“When I walked past them they started teasing me and saying horrible, nasty things to me”

‘Then they went and got their brother to beat me up”

“After their brother had beaten me, the girls continued to insult me. So I got angry and started hitting them”

 

00:20:20 – SPEAKER –ZANELE – THABO’S MOTHER

 

“He beat up a girl at school”

“Last year the teacher called me and wanted to see his father”

“I told the teacher that we are no longer together and they told me that if I see him I should tell him”

 

00:20:39 – SPEAKER – THABO

 

“I beat this kid”

“And he called his mother”

“He said I had taken his stuff”

‘But it wasn’t true”

 

00:21:00 – SPEAKER – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“Thabo is always fighting because he is hungry. That’s the main problem.”

 

00:21:25 – SPEAKER – KHANYISANI

 

“I kicked by mistake and apologised”

“Then she hit me on the head with an object”

“Then I kicked her until she crid”

“Her friend got involved and I kicked her. She kicked me back so I kicked her until she cried”

 

00:21:25 – SPEAKER - TSHIDI

 

“I’m not happy. The other children harass me and call me names”

 

00:22:16 – SPEAKER – PATRICK

 

“She gets victimised by the boys”

‘At home they witness the adults around them fighting and they come to school where they imitate this behaviour”

“That is why they beat up girls”

 

 

00:22:40 – SPEAKER – TSHIDI

 

“They were playing and teasing each other. I told them to stop or I would report them to the teacher”

“—told me to shut up and go back to Zimbabwe”

“—was sitting next to me in class”

“When I tried to move closer to --- he said that I should move away as I would give him cholera”

 

“I feel bad when I see other children eating their lunch”

“Sometimes there is no food at school”

“They shove their food in your face”

“---keeps putting his food on my desk”

“When I ask him to move it he teases me and says that I just want the food”

“And then he laughs”

 

00:25:03 – SPEAKER – THABO

 

“Sometimes I go to school without any money or food or lunch”

“When I come back from school my mother tells me there is no bread”

‘Then I just go out and play”

 

00:25:25- NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“At school they say he has trouble concentrating”

‘It’s because his needs are not met”

“When other kids eat their lunch he doesn’t have anything”

 

00:25:43 – SPEAKER – THABO

 

‘My mother doesn’t give me food”

 

00:26:16- NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“ I think Thabo lacks parenting”

‘For instance he loves his father with all his heart”

“But his father doesn’t love him back”

“All he does is drive past with his friends drinking alcohol”

“And every now and again he will give Thabo five rand”

‘Even her mother doesn’t know her own son”

“She does not take the time to get to know him”

“She does not sit down with him to find out what his needs are”

‘The only time they talk is when they argue”

 

00:27:07 – THABO

 

“I have to wear old tattered clothes all the time”

“Even when I go to church I have to wear the same old tattered clothes”

 

00:27:23 – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“Thabo accuses his mother of squandering the money his father gives her for hismaintenance”

 

00:27:35 – THABO

 

“She uses all the money to drink with her friends”

“When she gets maintenance money for me. Her friends fetch her and they go drinking”

‘when I get home from school there is nothing for me”

“I tell her that I’m hungry and she insults me by saying ‘Do you think your father gave me thousands?’”

“Every day she tells me to go to my father for money”

“When I tell her that I am hungry”

“She tells me this or that story’

‘She grabs me, beats me, and slams me against the wall”

 

00:28:28 – THABO’s MOTHER

 

“No he starts hitting me, I react and push him”

“We fight until my sister intervenes”

 

00:28:43 – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“This is life for Thabo. They fight at home almost every day. So Thabo thinks it’s normal”

-“Not every day” (Thabo’s mother_

“But you fight almost everyday”

“He thinks this is the way things should be”

 

00:29:00 – THABO

 

‘When I tell her that I’m hungry she says that she doesn’t care”

 

00:29:10 – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“Violence breeds violence. Thabo hits, bullies and swears at people”

‘because that’s what he learns at home”

 

00:29:44 – BONGANI – ‘Obama’

 

“I took her perfume. I took the perfume to school and the teacher confiscated it from me”

‘When I got home they asked me where it was. I told them at school. They started beating me”

 

00:29:44

 

00:29:59 – CAROLINE - BONGANI’S GREAT AUNT

 

“A month ago, Bongani stole a necklace, perfume, money, and other things and took them to school”

“He stole everything even the hair pins”

“When I asked him about it, all that was left in his school bag were the hair pins”

‘when I asked him where the rest of the stuff was he said he didn’t know”

“I’ve raised him and I know when he is lying. I can tell just by looking in his face if he is lying”

“I told him: ‘Today you are going to tell me the truth’”

‘You can’t steal from me when I feed you”

“Then I beat him”

 

00:30:40  - BONGANI – ‘Obama’

 

“They beat me up”

“I was bleeding on my head”

“And here they used a knife”

“They used a knife and I was bleeding”

 

00:31:02 – CAROLINE - BONGANI’S GREAT AUNT

 

“No he’s lying I didn’t use a knife. I hit him with a wooden spoon until it broke”

‘I told him I’m keeping it to show his children how I disciplined him when he was naughty”

‘I did this to scare and humiliate him so he will stop what he’s doing”

‘All I do is feed Bongani”

“I can’t eat and not feed him. I’m not responsible for anything else”

 

00:32:26 –NORAK – GIFT’S GRANDMOTHER

 

“When the children are playing and a fight breaks out. If the parents get involved they insult Gift”

“Voertsek. Your mother died of AIDS”

 

00:32:46 – GIFT

 

“Just yesterday they insulted me about my mother”

“I kept quiet. They poured sand on me and swore at me”

“I said I would tell my ‘sister’ and Granny but I forgot”

‘they swore at me about my mother and said that she died from AIDS”

 

  00:33:20 –NORAK – GIFT’S GRANDMOTHER

 

“I tell him to ignore people who insult him about his mother”

‘Because some of those people are also sick”

“He must not let it make him feel bad. He must keep quiet”

‘Tell them you are not God and cannot explain those things”

‘just tell them your mother did not choose to get the sickness”

 

00:34:06 – MZWAKHE – ‘GUNDI’

 

“I do everything for myself. I wash, eat, watch TV”

“I go and play, go home and sleep, and go to school”

 

00:34:26 – PRINCIPAL THEMBI

 

“When he comes home to school you can see that he gets no love”

“I’ve heard that at home he is left on his own. Even though he has an aunt”

“mzwakhe has a problem. It’s worrying that he might drop out of school”

 

00:34:50 –PHINDI – MZWAKHE’S AUNT

 

“We wash his clothes but he is a filthy child”

“He doesn’t want to wash. When you tell him to he just looks at you..”

“He won’t listen. He just cries”

“He doesn’t respond so I leave him alone. I can’t force him”

 

00:35:16 – PRINCIPAL THEMBI

 

“I once had a problem with Mzwakhe taking other learners’ lunches and their money to buy food”

‘I told him that if he is hungry, he should come to my office for food’

 

00:35:40- MZWAKHE – ‘GUNDI’

 

“Once I stole two rand”

‘I stole it so I could buy Simba chips”

“Then my aunt came to the school and wanted the money back”

“I bought a packet of chips with 50 cents and gave her the change”

 

00:36:00 –PHINDI – MZWAKHE’S AUNT

 

“When I think about Mzwakhe’s situation. When I prepare lunch for him, he refuses to eat leftovers. He throws leftover food in the bin”

‘I never give him money to buy food”

 

00:36:50 - TSHIDI

 

“My shoes were so small that my aunt had to cut them. “

“They were hurting my feet so we had to cut them at the back to make them fit”

 

00:37:20 - KHANYISANI

 

“I used to stay with my father when I was still attending school in KZN. Since I’ve been in Joburg I haven’t seen him.”

“Because he is in jail”

“They say my father got involved in an accident and shot somebody”

“I’m sad that my father is in jail. He used to have a job and support us so that my mother did not work”

 

00:37:50 – TSHIDI

 

“When there were xenophobic attacks and people were forced to leave their homes”

“Somebody came to us. A neighbour sent him”

‘He came to us and told our granny to move out. He was going to take out home”

“He said he would come back the next day and he wanted the place clean”

“My granny called the police and they arrived”

‘The police came and hit the man”

“While they were hitting him we were hiding in a neighbour’s place”

“We waited until it was dark and escaped to my granny’s friend’s house”

“Then my granny used to walk with us to and from school”

“Because she was worried about us”

 

00:39:29 – TEACHER

 

“Let those without mother and father please raise up your hands. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight”

 

“Let us now do without father? One two three four five six, All of us without mother.

 

 00:40:10 – PRINCIPAL THEMBI

 

“A lot of our kids are neglected and usually have only one parent”

“Parents should love their children and should explain to them that they don’t have money”

‘Children who aren’t loved end up running away from home”

 

00:40:35- CAROLINE – OBAMA’S GREAT AUNT

 

“When I was a learner. The teachers were like your parents and you obeyed them”

“You wouldn’t report a teacher who hit you to your parents, because they would hit you”

“We had no rights then. Every elder was your parent – and we listened to them”

“Now if Bongani gets hit at school I have to go and find out why they punished him, even though he has been naughty”

“That’s why the children end up on the streets – because they have rights”

“It’s ruining their future. They end up dropping out of school”

 

00:41:25 – PHINDI – MZWAKHE’S AUNT

 

“It makes me angry that I have to face all my challenge alone”

“Nobody helps me. They just talk about me behind my back”

“When I ask for help nobody helps me. They just say I am abusing Mzwakhe”

“What must I do? I shouldn’t ask him what he’s doing? I need to discipline him”

“I was disciplined as a child”

 

00:42:00 – NTOMBI – THABO’S AUNT

 

“In a year or two Thabo will drop out because he has already started to miss classes”

 

00:42:16 – ZANELE - THABO’S MOTHER

 

“I honestly tell Thabo that he must go to school. “

“I tell him that I don’t have a future. I don’t lie to him”

“I tell him that he shouldn’t end up like me. That he must go to school to have a brighter future”

 

00:42:30 – THABO

 

“I like school. Because I want to get an education so that I can have a comfortable life”

 

00:42:44- GIFT’S GRANDMOTHER

 

“I want Gift to know that his grandmother tried to raise him well. He should know right from wrong”

“And stay away from criminals and criminal activity”

“He should learn to ask for things and not take them”

 

00:43:40 – MBALI – KHANYISANI’S MOTHER

 

“We did not listen to our parents. I wish I had. My mother used to say that I should study and I did not listen”

“I tell Khanyisani that he should get an education so that he can become a better person”

 

00:44:10 – PRINCIPAL THEMBI


“Parents should love their children”

“I’d like to emphasise that parents should show their children love”

“Let’s not swear and fight in front of our children”

“What children see at home is what they act out at school” 

 

00:44:46 – TEXT

 

In ‘no fee’ schools the government provides lunch.

For many children this is their only meal of the day.

 

“…Children who are exposed to violence are more likely to become perpetrators of violence” – The centre for Justice and Crime Prevention

 

00:45:42 – SOUNDBITES

 

“When I grow up, I want to becomes a successful business woman” (TSHIDI)

“A soldier” (GIFT)
“Policeman” (OBAMA) – “I want to arrest Tsotsis (criminals)”

“I want to be like this one guy..he drives a nice car and lives in a nice house” (THABO)

 

00:46:10 – ROLL CREDITS

 

 

00:47:12 - OUT
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