I've reflected a lot this week while watching the Sibiya bail hearings. As a mother of an 18-year-old boy, this is not sitting well with me. Not because I believe the accused should be convicted before the courts have spoken. We must respect due process. But because I keep asking myself: what are we, as parents and as a society, teaching our children about power, consent, vulnerability and respect? Sure, an 18-year-old is legally an adult. But when a 59-year-old senior police official is accused of rape involving an 18-year-old, surely we must ask more than whether she is legally a minor. What does a massive age and power imbalance mean? What responsibility comes with occupying a position of authority? What conversations are we having with our daughters about consent and with our sons about respect, boundaries and power? And perhaps the hardest question: What kind of society are we becoming if our first response is to ask whether something is technically legal, rather than whether it is morally right? The courts must determine the facts and guilt. But we, as active citizens and parents, have a responsibility to ask the uncomfortable questions. Because our children are watching us. And they are learning from what we choose to question and what we choose to normalise. #ShadrackSibiyaCase #Sibiya #PowerDynamis – at Sandton, South Africa