Staff Reporter
An epileptic 12-year-old girl suffering from alcohol and snuff addiction is set to get state assistance after the Free State High Court ordered the provincial government to devise a rehabilitation plan for the minor and to ensure she has access to her educational needs.
Judge Mpina Mathebula made this order this week after Advocate Hasina Cassim had lodged an application on a semi-urgent basis seeking relief compelling a local mainstream primary school to grant the vulnerable child access to the school.
The Free State MECs for and their departments of social development; health; and education were cited as the first to sixth respondents respectively and all of them did not oppose the application.
The girl was diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome – a condition in a child that results from alcohol exposure during the mother’s pregnancy that causes brain damage and growth problems – resulting in her suffering from cognitive impairments, behavioural disorder and epilepsy.
According to court papers, the minor, who can only be named as R to protect her identity, is now addicted to snuff and alcoholic beverages.
Given her chaotic living conditions, she has been sexually violated and exposed to violence at the household level.
The battle to ensure the child enjoys her right to education has been raging for over two years and her circumstances worsened after her grandmother, who was her pillar of support, passed away.
Advocate Cassim was appointed curator ad litem by the court on January 15, 2018, authorising her to “engage any person or institution that has the necessary expertise and concomitant obligation to assist R to realise her rights”.
A curator ad litem is a legal representative appointed by a court to represent, during legal proceedings, the best interests of a person who lacks the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.
On November 11, 2018, the court ordered the MEC for education and his department – on R’s temporary placement into a child and youth care centre in the province – to ensure that she can “access a school that is able to cater to her needs”.
Justice Mathebula noted that even though Advocate Cassim engaged extensively with different stakeholders to ameliorate the plight of the minor child, nothing concrete has been achieved to comply with the court orders.
Although the aforementioned school admitted R as a learner, the school later refused her entry saying her attendance would be on condition that her behavioural impediments and addictions be dealt with first.
The school and its governing body – cited in the appeal case as the seventh and eighth respondents and the only ones opposing the application – argued that they did not have the “facilities, trained personnel and experience to deal with such matters” and that her admission would put other learners at risk.
In his ruling handed down on Monday, Justice Mathebula ordered that within 14 days of the court order the MEC for social development and her department should “ensure R’s placement in a temporary place of safety, which place of safety must guarantee sufficient one-on-one care”.
“Assess R for the purpose of treatment for addiction and rehabilitation, and formulate a rehabilitation plan, both of which must be done and finalised within 14 days of this order,” the judge said, adding that the rehabilitation plan should be implemented within five days of its finalisation.
The department – which is expected to provide feedback on her rehabilitation and treatment on the last Friday of every month of 2020, with effect from August 28 – was also ordered to place the minor in a child and youth care centre within 35 days of the court order.
The MEC for health and her department were ordered to ensure R has consistent access to a healthcare team to attend to her medical, therapeutic, psychiatric and psychological needs.
“Both the team and facilities must be available to R for as long as such care is required,” the judge said.
Further, the MEC for education and his department as well as the aforementioned school and its governing body were ordered to ensure R’s access to the school.
“Such access must be granted as soon as R is placed into temporary safe care,” the judge said.
The school and its governing body, as the only respondents who had opposed the application, were ordered to pay the costs of the application.