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On 7 August 2012 I sent a formal submission to the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) to request an investigation into the failure of the Department of Social Development to implement Part A and Part B of the Child Protection Register (CPR).

The Child Protection Register falls under the ambit of the Children’s Act and its purpose is to protect children from people found to have abused or neglected a child, and who have been deemed unsuitable to work with children.

Part B of the register is the responsibility of the National Departments of Social Development and Justice and Constitutional Development. Part B is supposed to list all people deemed unsuitable to work with children as a result of previous convictions for child abuse.

Part A is a provincial competency, and broadly documents relevant information of children who have been abused or neglected.

However, these two parts of the CPR have been in complete disarray.

Contradictory information received from the Department of Social Development on the number of names on Part B of the CPR has completely undermined the credibility of the Register. The efficient functioning of this Register is of paramount importance for the safety of our children, and it is therefore unconscionable that the Minister is unable to get the Register working.

In October 2011, the Department revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question that there was only one name on the Register. Then, in December 2011, Minister Dlamini gave incorrect information in a parliamentary reply when she stated that there are 22 names on the CPR. In May 2012, the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development and Social Development misrepresented the facts when they updated the Social Development Portfolio Committee on the register, and reported that it contained 438 names. In June 2012, at the Social Protection and Community Development Cluster briefing, it was stated that there is only one name on the CPR.

Now, a source has revealed to the DA that, in fact, there are 26 names on the Register – 22 of which are historical (people convicted in the five years preceding the commencement of the Act) and only four names of people who were convicted after the commencement of the Act.

It is clear that the Department of Social Development is failing in its responsibility to provide a CPR that can be used to protect our children. The Department is ignoring Section 28 (d) of the Bill of Rights, which states that every child has the right "to be protected from ... neglect, abuse or degradation".

The Human Rights Commission has a mandate to promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights. It is a violation of the basic rights of children that the CPR is completely dysfunctional and unable to protect our children. The HRC must therefore investigate the failure of the Department of Social Development to get the CPR working.