A video of a little girl smoking from what appears to be a Hookah pipe has sparked outrage on social media.
Shared by Twitter user @YandisaMatsots5 with the caption “I’m leaving South Africa”, the little one is seen inhaling smoke with no adults interfering. Needless to say, people were highly concerned. The concern extended not only toward the incident but the fact that it was recorded.
As one user put it “it makes me cough so much, imagine those tiny lungs.”
Both Children South Africa and the SAPS responded to the video.
In both responses, the parties express that the video is from November 2021 and that it has already been escalated to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit for investigation.
Hi there, thank you for your tweet and concern. Please note that we were alerted to this video in November 2021 and this was escalated to the @SAPoliceService
whom referred this to the Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit for further investigation. CLSA— ChildlineSouthAfrica (@ChildlineSA) June 30, 2022
Good Morning, this is a video the SAPS have been made aware of in Nov 2021 and this was escalated to the
Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit. Please remove this video and stop sharing it as it is depicting child abuse. ME— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) June 30, 2022
SAPs took things a step further and asked that the video be removed and no longer shared.
“It is depicting child abuse” they added. In sensitivity of this, Cape {town} Etc has not included the footage.
The public, however, still wants answers. Users have asked whether the parents were arrested as well as whether the child was removed from the care of those who allowed this. It is believed that the incident happened in the Eastern Cape, with many linking the ‘upbringing norms’ to the numerous underage guests at Enyobeni tavern where lives were tragically lost.
Also read: East London tavern update: Carbon monoxide poisoning possible cause
Further, a conversation was ignited regarding how far people will go to get attention on social media, with some accusing the video taker of doing it for the content.
“The obsession of likes and desire to trend,” a user commented following this thought progression.
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Picture: Twitter