Cape Town - Parents across Cape Town have rejected the idea of having their children “tagged” at City beaches, a component of the municipality’s efforts to ensure their safety this festive season.
This was revealed by Mayco member for Community Services and Health Patricia van der Ross amid the release of statistics for the Identikidz project.
Speaking to the Cape Argus, she mentioned that despite the teams ensuring the safety of over 48 000 children and reuniting 65 children with their caregivers since the start of the holiday season, officials are perplexed by the refusal from some parents.
“Since mid-December the teams have been hard at work at the 16 designated beaches around Cape Town and tagged 48 957 children, of whom 65 were reunited with their caregivers. Over the Christmas long weekend, 5 095 children were tagged at Strand Beach, 3 715 at Muizenberg and 3 237 at Strandfontein.”
She said she made the discovery while on site at Muizenberg Beach this week when she heard a parent declining.
“When the parent was approached by staff, she declined, saying she was there to look after the children. When we looked into this with staff allocated at other beaches, we found that it was happening in Camps Bay, Strand and Milnerton as well. Most of the parents did not really give a clear explanation about why, just saying they were present to watch their children.
“It is important to stress that a child can disappear quickly on a crowded beach and this project is by no means a commentary on parenting skills, but it is there to create an extra layer of security for the parents and children.
“In some cases, where we reunite children, the parents had no idea that they (the children) had wandered off in the first place.”
The Identikidz project, started in 2016, allows children to be tagged on arrival at the beach with a band containing the child’s caregiver’s details.
This ensures that in the event of a child getting separated from their family, responders can use the contact information from the band to facilitate a reunion. Van der Ross emphasised that the teams would persist in implementing the project in the upcoming weeks and encouraged parents to reconsider their decision.
“I think the use of the word ‘tagging’ may be part of the issue. I want to urge parents to understand that the tagging is not a form of labelling your child in any way. This is about the safety of your child.”
Meanwhile, the City has also urged beachgoers to be alert in the next few days as with the arrival of the full moon, stronger rip currents and bigger sea swells are likely to be prevalent.
Lifeguards and ancillary services have had a busy few days in spite of the very windy conditions around the peninsula.
The only major incident involving bathers that was recorded over the past few days was a mass rescue at Monwabisi Beach, with three non-fatal drownings. The patients were transported to Khayelitsha Hospital for medical treatment. According to City records, there have been four fatal drownings of bathers since December 1.