Childline KZN has a new three-digit phone number ‒ 116 ‒ which the organisation says will make it easier for children to remember and call for help from anywhere in South Africa and even abroad.
Childline KZN’s acting director Adeshini Naicker said the existing 08000 555 55 number which they’ve had for many years would be phased out in the next few weeks.
“Basically it’s to make it easier and to align ourselves with the helplines internationally and also to make it more accessible to foreign children,” said Naicker.
She said the new 116 number had been up and running for a while, but they wanted to sort out any teething problems before discontinuing the old number.
“It’s much, much easier to remember and it’s the same number used throughout Africa so if a child from one of the other countries in Africa finds themselves in South Africa they will be able to use the 116 number that they are familiar with back home.”
Naicker said the non-profit organisation, which worked to protect children from all types of abuse, received an average of 10 000 phone calls on its KZN line every month, and of those about 500 were prank calls.
She said some of those calls were from children who were fooling around, while many of the evening calls were from male prisoners who had access to telephone booths and took advantage of the toll free number to harass the organisation’s women counsellors.
However, lately many of the telephone calls were from adults who wanted to report abuse or seek parental guidance on how to deal with their children’s behavioural issues, said Naicker.
“Over and above the actual telephonic counselling we offer, in the event of sexual abuse and other abuse, the lay counsellors that take the telephone calls will refer matters to our social workers,” she said.
Anyone who wanted to report child abuse or needed advice about children can contact Childline on 116.
The Independent on Saturday