Most children grow up without fathers in their lives in SA, says activist

Cape Town - The Fatherhood Foundation says single parent households are a common occurrence in South Africa and more often than not, you will find that children grow up without their fathers in their lives.

This comes as children will be celebrating Father’s day. However, it will be a saddest day for most South African children who grew up in absence of their father’s guidance most of their lives.

Speaking to eNCA, Fatherhood Foundation SA director and activist, Zane Meas said: “The importance of a father in a child’s life can sometimes be underestimated or overlooked because it is something that we see almost every day.

“Statistics have shown that children who grow up with(out) the father tend to have more incidents of teenage pregnancies, drug abuse and ending up in prison, and all the negative social melodies that they are facing today.

“I think the roles of the father are being overlooked and it’s not the fathers’ fault because a lot of father figures are just absent, in fact women now have to play two roles,” Meas told eNCA.

Meas said South Africa had two-thirds of single parent households and most of them were being run by women.

“Fathers are just missing and they are not fighting a war or dead. They are not present at home, our job is to get men to come home because home is the place of greatest influence for men to play a positive role,” he said.

Meas also highlighted that even young fathers were caught in a cycle perpetuated by their fathers and positive male roles were missing.

“Issues such as economic circumstances and unemployment do play a negative role in young fathers, but what is missing is men who know how to (be) fathers and they do not know how to run a household because they themselves grew up without fathers.

“Most young men we deal with do not know what is positive male role model and this is why we constantly see an increase in gender-based-violence and they do not know how to take care of their families which (is) why we see so many single mothers,” Meas said.

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Sun, 18 Jun 2023 13:35:23 GMTSibuliso Duba

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