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I will today be submitting a series of parliamentary questions to the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, about the launch of a National Council dedicated to fighting child abuse.

If the performance of Minister Xingwana’s department thus far is anything to go by, the Council will have little meaningful impact on the lives of abused children, and will merely provide another opportunity for ministerial posturing.

Despite an entire department established to meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups in our communities, the Zuma government has repeatedly failed to protect our children.

Examples of this include:

The establishment of a Child Protection Register, which is intended to protect children from sex offenders, but contains only one name;
The Department of Social Development has kept no record of convictions for sexual offences against children under the age of 16;
The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities’ 2010/11 Annual Report indicated a 77% vacancy rate, and, its finances are shambolic. Despite its financial problems, the Department has seen fit to spend its budget on items like a trip to New York for 49 officials, at a cost of almost R7 million.

I will therefore be asking Minister Xingwana:

Who will sit on the National Child Abuse Council, and who will chair it;
What are the intended outcomes of the Council;
What plans have been put in place to achieve these outcomes; and
What is the budget for establishing and maintaining the Council.

It seems that this administration is more concerned with setting up councils and strategies with the purported purpose of assisting women, children and people with disabilities, than actually delivering on its core mandate of assisting those South Africans requiring protection and support.

We don’t need another body to protect our children; we need to ensure that the systems currently in place work, and that government is able to deliver assistance to those who need it most.