The world is starting to listen to us and more old people have stopped seeing what we are doing as a rebellious act,” said 17-year-old Cape Town climate activist Ayakha Melithafa.
“They see us as taking charge of our future. We are indeed the leaders of today, not tomorrow. This is our future and if we decide to act tomorrow, we may not be able to save the Earth.”
This week, Ayakha together with Swedish climate striker Greta Thunberg and 14 other children, aged between 8 and 17, submitted a groundbreaking 100-page legal complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. They allege that UN member states’ failure to tackle the climate crisis constitutes a violation of child rights.
Ayakha of Eerste River’s complaint details how her mother, Nokulunga, lives in the drought-hit Eastern Cape and supports Ayakha, her siblings and her cousin, mainly through farming.
“Climate change has affected my mom and me because of the terrible drought it is causing,” says Ayakha, who is in Grade 11 at the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha. If they can’t plant in the Eastern Cape and the livestock can’t eat and drink, my mom and other farmers can’t earn any money.” Some of her mother’s livestock perished in the drought. It was very bad for our income,” she told the Saturday Star.
The complaint details how last year, Ayakha along with the other residents of Cape Town, prepared for “Day Zero”. The water crisis was really bad because we always had to buy water. At home we had to take shorter showers We had to be really cautious, so we didn’t reach Day Zero. There were a lot of water restrictions.
“There are other people who grow their own food where I live, and it was really hard for them. It was hard to see them unable to feed their families because of the water restrictions. The quality of the fresh produce she was used to purchasing from local vendors deteriorated or was no longer available. During the drought, people in her community fell ill from drinking dirty water, and many could not afford to buy bottled water.
“The changes in the weather make me feel sad and angry. There are things you can do about this, but no one is doing anything I want to ensure that I will be part of the solution to climate change, and not just part of the people who are causing the problem,” she says in her complaint.
Ayakha, who describes herself as an “optimistic climate activist”, is a recruitment officer and spokesperson for the African Climate Alliance, a youth-led climate advocacy group. She is also a graduate of Project 90 by 2030’s YouLead Initiative and shares her knowledge and experiences in climate activism with her community, planting vegetable gardens, building solar-powered phone chargers, waste use and recycling initiatives.
“People in my community aren’t aware of climate change and how it’s affecting them. They just see the food crisis escalating, the drought and the poor water quality.” Ayakha, who hopes to study environmental engineering or environmental law, sees a future impacted by climate change as “miserable”. It is worse for those living in poverty. The government needs to act.
In other news – Floyd Shivambu insists brother paid off VBS loans
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has defended his younger brother Brian using proceeds of the looting of the doomed VBS Mutual Bank to buy him a luxury vehicle.
The Mail & Guardian reported on Friday that Brian’s company Sgameka electronically transferred R680 000 to Trenditrade 23, which trades as the Land Rover dealership where his elder brother traded in his 2013 Range Rover Sport in exchange for a brand new one Read more
Source: IOL
