“Why Angry Facebook Comments Won’t Solve Our Children’s Crisis”
Reporter – George April
Western Cape:- A striking Die Burger front page, with the headline: “32,000 children in the Western Cape suffer after Trump decision”, has gone viral on Facebook.
Pictute: Davy Zass – Facebook
The image of a teddy bear with a red cross triggered an avalanche of emotional and often aggressive responses. Not just about blame, but also about identity, history, and injustice.
One comment that stood out amidst the noise came from Davy Zass..
Davy Zass (Afrikaans): “Johrine Lochner, why do you run to America first with a local SA problem? Your APARTHEID GOVERNMENT was just as guilty under foreign influence. Now Trump and the USA are blamed because innocent children suffer due to AfriForum and Solidarity’s LIES about genocide. America helps the white child, but it’s not their duty to help the Black and Brown?
Shame on you…”
Zass’s comment highlights something most others miss – this is not just a race issue; all children are affected. Yet, in the digital mob, reason often gets buried under rage.
The Dangerous Game of Social Media Blame
Social media has become South Africa’s new battlefield, and not a helpful one. Two major dangers arise
Division – Comments like Dina Smit’s “Africa doesn’t just beg; they steal everything too!” or Corne van Tonder’s “A black man will never admit guilt or see stealing as wrong. “ To spread hate, wound help anyone. This kind of language recreates the same walls that apartheid once built, just in digital form.
Distraction – Instead of focusing on how to feed these children, get them back in school, or support struggling families, the national energy is being wasted on pointing fingers.
Looking Inward – What Are We Doing?
America once helped push down apartheid through sanctions and pressure, true. But today, the real question is: what are we doing for each other, here, at home?
Whether you live in Blikkiesdorp or a gated suburb, 32,000 suffering children is our problem.
Language Shapes the Future
When Facebook is filled with venom instead of vision, we all lose. The children on the front page of Die Burger can’t speak for themselves, we speak for them, whether with hope or hate.
As Davy Zass rightly reminds us, “There are also white children affected…” Poverty in South Africa no longer discriminates by skin colour.
We need to start building with our words, our actions, and our neighborhoods.
What Now?
We ask – before you type your next comment, ask yourself, will my words build, or break? If you truly want to help, don’t just post, start in your street, your school, your church, your community.
