Children in South Africa live in a society with a Constitution that has the highest regard for their rights, equality and dignity. Protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse is not only a basic value but also an obligation as set out in the Constitution Article 28 of South Africa Constitution.
Furthermore, children are guaranteed a right to parental care, and where it is inadequate; the state will provide appropriate alternative care.
Therefore, child protection is a national program directed at preventing and responding to violence against children, abuse, neglect, exploitation – including commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labour, exploitation, and harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage.
As the country celebrates 27 years of the Constitution and freedom; it is important to note that protecting a child is about upholding the rights of a child as provided for in section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic.
Child Protection allows children to have access to other rights such as survival, development, growth, and participation.
Unfortunately, the protection and access to children's rights cannot take place if children's rights are not known and promoted.
Violence against children and gender-based violence issues have been declared the country's second pandemic and have reportedly worsened during and post the COVID-19 hard lockdown. Children in South Africa face an increased risk of abuse and violence, as a result of the broad-ranging impact of COVID-19, according to UNICEF South Africa and child protection partners. The alarm has been raised after Childline South Africa reported a more than 36.8% increase in calls for help during August 2020, compared with the same month in 2019. This data coincides with reports from healthcare facilities of a consistent and concerning number of severe injuries among child abuse referrals.
Although contact crimes against children were on the decline in the past year, the data still leaves a lot to be desired.
The police have recorded 943 murders and over 24,000 sexual offences against children. The crime statistics, covering the period between April last year to March this year, were released earlier on Friday and have been described as a mixed bag by experts.
However, if the premise that a society is judged on how it treats its children and vulnerable populations, then South Africa has a lot to be ashamed of.
The data shows that rape was at the top of sexual offences – 22,070 children were sexually abused between April 2019 and March this year.The figure has dropped by 2,317 compared to the preceding year.
According to police's Norman Sekhukhune, the number of children involved in contact crimes murder has decreased by 71; sexual offenses by 2,317; attempted murder showed a reduction of 47; assault grievous bodily harm declined 309, and common assault slowed by 137.
Meanwhile, over 10,000 children were victims of common assault – with 7,050 cases of grievous bodily harm reported.
Violence against children remains a critical challenge facing South African society today, despite tremendous efforts to curb this scourge. The legacy of violence and extreme inequality from South Africa's past is compounded by high poverty and unemployment in the present. This combination places many children at risk of domestic violence, substance abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. The scale of violence in South Africa alone is deeply worrying. Perhaps more concerning is how violence has become normalized in everyday life; weaving abuse and neglect into the country's societal fabric.
This trend of violence against children continues to paint a bleak picture and as Gauteng Provincial Government we have adopted a 365 Child Protection program, which seeks to ensure that our children are protected every day we acknowledge that government cannot do it alone, but concerted efforts start with care and protection of our children in a basic societal unit, families, spreading out to our communities, SAPS, civil organizations, etc.
Children care and protection should be everyone's business so that we can live in and safe and sound environment. One child abuse is one too many.