Statement during the launch of Child Protection Week by the Minister of Housing and Acting Minister of Social Development, Ms Brigitte Mabandla, HSRC Biolding

26/05/2003

Ladies and Gentlemean,
Distinguished Guests

I welcome you all to this important occasion of launching Child Protection Week.

This Week, 26 May - 7 June, constitutes an important annual period and milestone in the calendar of the South African government in general and society at large. 

This is even more significant coming against the backdrop of 25 May, Africa Day. A Day that confirms that we are truly sons and daughters of the continent and should ensure that in our children, is embedded the spirit of belonging to this beautiful yet beleaguered continent of ours. This is the time when we should instil the spirit of African patriotism amongst all our children, black and white alike.. Why not, given that this ought to be the African century. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, CPW, is the time in which we rededicate ourselves as a nation to ensure that the rights of the children as enshrined in our Constitution, statutes and policies are translated into action. A time in which we reflect how far we are as the government in ensuring that our children, who are indeed our future, are being given the love, care and compassion they deserve; How far we are in ensuring that we build a better life for them. In essence how far we are in ensuring that our services truly benefit them.

As we reflect we can truly and confidently say that since 1994 the ANC-led government has made significant gains in transforming the conditions of our children for the better. We are one of the few countries in the world that have a Constitution that has enshrined the socio-economic rights of children, including amongst others the right to education, health, shelter and decent environment, and social security. 

Currently we are working on comprehensive child care legislation that is to be tabled in parliament soon. This legislation seeks to further promote and strengthen the rights of children and protect them from abuse. Indeed, whilst we have made giant strides in transforming the policies and legislation, we still continue to experience gruesome violations of the rights of children in our society.

Rape, molestation, neglect, and other forms of physical, psychological and emotional violation still pertain. Gory stories are still with us of children experiencing rape and abandonment, including those even less than six months old.

During CPW we rededicate ourselves to arrest these trends. We rededicate ourselves as government in all its spheres to mobilise the entire society to fight and remove such animalistic scourges in our midst. Children do not deserve this. They need care and compassion in the true African sense and culture, reflected in that saying that "Umntwana Wam Ngumntwana Wakho, Umntwana Wakho Ngumntwana Wam. Lets go back to our roots and do what we know best in rearing and protecting children. 

Note should be taken that at times, if not most of the time, abuse is created or aggravated by the socio-economic conditions in which families and communities live. Poverty and HIV/AIDS further put children in vulnerability. It's estimated that there are about 18 million children living in poverty. About 1,5 million are orphans from the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

It's in this regard that the government is taking serious practical steps to ensure that children are removed from such conditions. Some of these include the provision of free education to millions of children. The biggest government intervention in poverty alleviation is the provision of social security. The Department of Social Development provides 5,6 million vulnerable people with grants every month. These include older persons, people with disabilities and those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. 

Worth noting is that of these, about 2,7 million are children who receive their child support grant (CSG). This is very significant and phenomenal given the fact not long ago, in 1999, only 60 000 received their child support grants. The DSD also provide Care Dependency grants, foster care grants for abandoned children and children with disabilities.

Most importantly we are progressively reaching out to millions of children

The President has announced that we will increase the age of eligibility for the Child Support Grants to 14 years over the next three years. This is expected to cover 3,2 million children at cost of about R11 billion more.

This programme will be implemented in the following manner:

a. All those eligible and below 9 year will be registered from 1 April 2003 (this year)
b. All those below 11 years will be registered from 1 April 2004.
c. All those below 14 years will be registered from 1 April 2005. 

However, we are getting reports that this is leading to teenage pregnancies. We want to urge the families, communities, and society at large to join us in informing and educating our children that teenage pregnancy will not be tolerated. Children should ensure that they educate themselves and become ready as adults to bring children into this world. We also recognise that there are many children who are eligible yet are not registered. We therefore urge individuals, families, communities, NGOs, CBOs and faith-based organisations, as they have done in the recent pats, to join hands with us, in ensuring that every eligible child is registered. 

Child Protection Must be Everybody's Business!

The DSD also provides other services, which ought to be benefit to children. These include welfare services in which we allocate funds to strengthen NGOs in the provision of services. 

We also have the Poverty Relief Programmes, PRP, which are meant to help with income-generating projects, including assisting unemployed women, older persons, and people with disabilities. R71 million has been allocated for this financial year.

In conjunction with other social cluster departments led by the Department of Agriculture, a further R1,2 billion has been allocated over the next three years to ensure food security, including food parcels, agricultural starter packs and food fortification amongst the poor households, including child-headed households and those affected by HIV/AIDS. The government hopes to reach out through this programme to 2, 2 households or about 10 million people.

All these can only be possible when we join hands as partners. The government cannot protect children alone.

The government therefore calls on the entire society to ensure that, during the CPW, and beyond, locally, provincially and nationally, we work together to protect children from all forms of vulnerability, including abuse, poverty, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and underdevelopment. Programmes and activities have been developed for that.

Let's all rally around the call "Building a People's Contract to Strengthen Families and Communities for a Better life for All " 

Thank You

Issued by Ministry of Social Development