Cyber bullying scourge

By William Alexander and John Harvey

CYBER bullying is rampant at Eastern Cape schools with pupils abusing cellphones and social media to torment their peers – some of whom are being treated for depression as a result.
Pupils spoken to this week said cyber bullying had become so ruthless that the faceless bullies are even drawing “inspiration” from violent social media videos like the notorious viral video of a mentally-ill girl being gang-raped in Johannesburg.
Psychologists say the level of cyber bullying at schools is now critical, mainly because there is little defence against it.
The rising concern about escalating abuse of cellphones and social media to terrorise and ridicule other children comes in the wake of a call by the National Association of School Governing Bodies earlier this month to place a blanket ban on cellphones at schools.
While pupils interviewed said such a ban would not be practical as cellphones were now an integral part of everyday life, all believed it was important that education authorities – and parents – were made aware of just how serious cellphone bullying had become.
“Parents don’t have a clue how bad this situation is, because the person being bullied is only known to those invited to a specific Facebook or BBM [BlackBerry Messenger] group” said one 16-year-old girl who attends a top school in Port Elizabeth.
The bullying tactics employed by users of BlackBerry – the most popular smartphone from Grade 6 to matric, pupils said – and Facebook at Eastern Cape schools include:
Posting a picture of someone deemed “ugly” on a profile and opening him or her up to ridicule by way of group comment;
Vilifying a girl who may have wronged another girl or boy by posting their picture and identifying them as a “slut” or “slag”;
Hacking into a peer’s Facebook account and making use of that person’s profile to make disparaging remarks about others, thereby making the victim unpopular;
Boys stalking girls who have refused their advances. They then bully them out of spite by posting derogatory remarks about the girls.
Another 16-year-old said the proliferation of cellphones among schoolchildren had sparked a ruthless “culture of ridicule”.
“Parents don’t know about these things because their kids never tell them about it. That comes from peer pressure” she said.
“I know of guys who read the news on websites and what to most people is a horrific story they see as funny. It’s like they draw inspiration from it and think about how they could do the same to hurt someone.”
While Eastern Cape principals’ reaction to the National Association of School Governing Bodies call has been mixed, most agree cyber bullying is extremely difficult to police.
“I don’t think banning them is an option but they definitely need to be controlled and age-related rules need to apply,” said Woodridge College principal Craig Neave.
“When cells first came out most schools banned them. Now they’ve become part of a person’s identity and a lot of parents rely on cellphones for security for their children.”
Neave said verbal bullying has always been difficult to curtail and “cellphones are just another medium” to do it. “But we need to be educating children on cellphone etiquette. We’ve got to learn to deal with this.”
Although bullying did occur at Walmer High School, policing the theft of cellphones was proving most problematic.
“The pupils fight when their phones are stolen,” said principal Lunga Dyani. “I had to go out and mediate because a young boy had his phone taken at knife-point. There’s even been a case where a boy in Walmer was stabbed to death over a cellphone.”

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday May 12, 2012.

Road rage victim forgives attacker

Lorna Poulter before being released from hospital. Picture: Yolande Stander

By Yolandé Stander

THE victim of the savage Nelson Mandela Bay road rage attack that began with an altercation over a donkey cart has spoken about her ordeal for the first time.
Speaking to Weekend Post from her hospital bed at Greenacres on Thursday, Greenshields Park resident Lorna Poulter said she had suffered memory loss as a result of the brutal attack that nearly claimed her life earlier this month.
Poulter, 51, was attacked at about 10pm on April 3 by a driver wielding a wheel spanner after she had stopped in the road to berate two men on an overloaded donkey cart in Main Road, Walmer. Xolisa Ntantiso of Walmer allegedly pulled up in his car and a heated argument ensued. The state alleges he then went back to his car, took out a wheel spanner and proceeded to attack Poulter.
Ntantiso was arrested at the scene and initially faced a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, but this was later changed to attempted murder. The case was postponed until June 4.
A fierce animal lover, Poulter nearly bled to death on the pavement near 17th Avenue after the savage beating. She remained in a coma for days after the incident and only began showing signs of recovery last week.
Still struggling to come to terms with the emotional trauma of the incident, Poulter said the attack was still very “foggy” in her mind and that “pieces of that night” were missing.
“I remember pulling over to speak to the men who had heavily overloaded their donkey cart, but after that I can’t remember anything. The next thing I can recall is waking up in hospital,” she said softly.
She was not angry at her attacker and said she had  forgiven him.
Poulter also said she was not upset by the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court decision on Thursday to grant Ntantiso bail of only R400 even though the amount sent shockwaves through the community, many feeling it was too little to fit the crime of attempted murder.
Poulter said her pets were the first thing she thought of when she came out of the coma. “Luckily my neighbours jumped in and took care of them.”

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 21, 2012.

Plans for cellphone ‘tree’ causing buzz in Walmer

By Shaun Gillham
A GROUP of Nelson Mandela Bay residents, businesses and a church are rallying in a bid to halt the erection of a cellphone company tower and base station in upmarket Walmer.
Cell C intends putting up the tower in Water Road, on a parcel of land to be rented from the Walmer Bowling Club, situated directly behind the Walmer town hall and library and directly opposite St John the Baptist Anglican Church’s retirement complex.
 Cell C, which could not be reached for comment this week, has already sold off 960 of its existing towers to American Tower Corp, which purchased them for $140-million (R1.1-billion) through its South African subsidiary, and plans to purchase up to an additional 1800 towers that are either currently under construction or will be constructed in the next two to three years.
Brian Meyer, president of the Walmer Bowling Club, said the decision to lease out the land was made unanimously at a special general meeting of club members.
He said with the average age of its membership being 69, revenue was important to the club.
“A presentation was made to the club and we were shown environmental studies which indicated there was no harm to people from the tower. And a full environmental impact study has been done for the area,” he said.
Although he could not reveal the value of the deal, he said the initial lease period for land would be 10 years, with an option to renew.
Meyer could not say when the tower would be erected. “This is not in our hands right now and we have not yet signed a lease agreement. But I do think it is imminent.”
DA ward councillor David Hayselden said he objected “in principle” to the erection of the tower, while nutrition and lifestyle coach Tanya Wyatt, who has children who go to school in the area, said she was concerned over the public participation process followed.
Liza Hill of the Chiropractic Health Centre in Walmer was also not in favour due to the risks that cellphone towers could pose to health. “There are many schools and after-care centres in the vicinity of the proposed site,” she said, adding the public notification process had been inadequate.
Rev Robert Penrith, rector of the St John the Baptist Anglican Church, has forwarded an objection to the tower on behalf of his parish.
In a letter on behalf of the church executive, Penrith said the masts were “aesthetically very unpleasant”. He added “disguising the mast as a tree is an insult to the intelligence of local residents and just makes the structure look that much bigger”.
“Secondly, whereas you have given us a plan of the suburb, you have not indicated where on that erf the mast will be erected. There is, therefore, every possibility it could be directly outside of our main gate.”
He also raised health concerns about the tower.
But Geoff Beeton of ZTE, a company contracted to acquire tower sites on behalf of Cell C, said an environmental impact study conducted at the site had been approved and the process was now at the permits process stage which involved the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
He said the application for the tower was also being processed by civil aviation authorities and this process would take four to six weeks.
“The tower will be about 30 metres high and will be accompanied by a base station, which will be green in colour, which was a requirement put forward by the bowling club. The tower will be camouflaged and look similar to a yellow-wood tree,” he said.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday December 31. A community meeting to discuss the issue was held at Clarendon Park Primary on Monday night January 16.