Abuse in Ireland: Will we scrutinise our institutions in SA?

By Patric Tariq Mellet

There are so many stories and issues in the lives of South Africans that have for too long had to take a backseat in our media which seems to be stuck in a groove. Generally the South African media are besotted with the world of politicians and high-society figures, coasting from one juicy story to the next highlighting politicians’ trials, tribulations, foibles, escapades, indiscretions, antagonisms, failures and achievements. The daily opera of the political estate takes precedent over every other aspect of life. Good journalism covering other aspects of our national life, good and bad, has suffered as a result.

Important stories, exposés, investigative journalism in the civil arena and the interrogation of the business sector, of the churches and of what we call civil society have fallen by the wayside over the past decade. It is often projected that the government is the end all and be all of life in South Africa. From that focus everything is done to assail government, almost like a piñata assault or beating the whipping boy for all of South Africa’s ills. While government is painted as the sick beast wildly thrashing about on a road to nowhere, it is often counterposed that a virtuous business sector and even more virtuous NGO sector have the answers and are models to emulate. Others are turning to churches in their droves. In terms of the NGO, charities and religious sector, often referred to as civil society, there is virtually no serious critique.

Over the last week in Ireland, all hell broke loose as a nation was forced to look deep inside itself at an ugly side of its national life, when the Ryan Commission Report into Child Abuse in Catholic institutions was released by the government. The assumption had always been that the church filled the gaps that the state could not reach. The Catholic Church was projected as the social cohesion life blood of Ireland working tirelessly in the fields of health, welfare, education and so on. The selfless work of the church was heralded for all to emulate.

The Ryan Commission Report shattered this myth to show that for decades the “cloth and cross” was a cloak for violent abuses, torture, psychological terror, rapes, sadism and slave labour. From the littlest of children to teenagers were brutalised and degraded in a systematic reign of terror that was no different to human-rights abuses by some of the world’s worst political regimes. The revelations contained in five volumes available to download has resulted in an outpouring of national enragement across Ireland. South Africa has hardly taken notice of this major exposé and this is sad for many of us who experienced the extension of this Irish abuse at institutions right here in South Africa.

One of the many questions being asked is where the media was in Ireland when these abuses were being talked about over three decades and where was the public voice. After all, a number of brave voices wrote books about the abuses. There were enough complaints and leads but nobody followed through.

I spent four years of my childhood, up to the age of 12, in a Dickensian Catholic institution, a children’s home for kids from dysfunctional families, here in South Africa. Much of what I read in the Ryan Commission Report was what we experienced at the hands of Irish nuns here in South Africa in the 1960s. Silence reigned then and still reigns now. The church is considered sacrosanct as an area where the media do not tread.

I’ve spent a significant part of my adult life working in a number of South African civil society organisations and it is assumed that they are all doing a great job, driven by selflessness and a sense of service to the weakest in our society. This I know is true of many. But I can attest that it is also true that in many NGOs there is self-aggrandisement, financial irregularity, abuse of funds, nepotism, inefficiency, wastage of donor monies, dishonesty and a host of bad practices made worse by the fact that this money is sourced on the misfortune of others or to meet development needs. The NGO sector often cloaks itself in the terminology of ethical grandstanding and championing the poorest. Sometimes those who make the most noise are the worst culprits.

As much as I have seen good work done I’ve also experienced gross abuses since 1990 when I started working in the sector. That someone can say this, should cause us to reflect that issues of unethical behaviour and lack of professionalism is not something that our society should simply see as a government problem. South African society as a whole must snap out of denialism and take more collective responsibility for our condition as a society. Too much has been swept under the carpet by all. Our press ought to be challenging business, the churches, charities and the more than 100 000 NGOs in our society. Or are we going to wait until it all boils over, like has happened in Ireland?

It is high time the South African media becomes more balanced and deals more broadly with all aspects of civil life — state, business, religious institutions, charities and other civil bodies. All operate with public monies and engage in various public services. The media should swop its hobby horse of focussing on the “political estate” to look at the entire public-service spectrum. There are many good news stories over this spectrum that we can, and need to, celebrate as South Africans, but there is also much to investigate and shine a light on.

Many of us who suffered horrific abuse in religious institutions still cry out for justice in South Africa and have looked at what happened in Ireland and simply asked why the South African investigative media have let us down. In Australia, Ireland, US and elsewhere we have seen tough public scrutiny of religious, charitable and civil society sectors and over here the behaviours of these are largely ignored?

I’d like to hear what people think about this and please read the Ryan Report to see the depths of cruelty that charities can engage in when left outside of public scrutiny and accountability.