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Today, in reply to a parliamentary question, the Minister of Social Development has revealed that the Department of Social Development (DSD) does not know how many convictions there have been for sexual offences against children under the age of 16 years.

This is in contravention of section 114 of the Children’s Act, which states the following in respect of the Child Protection Register:

Part A of the Register must be a record of -

(a) All reports of abuse or deliberate neglect of a child made to the Director General in terms of this Act;
(b) All convictions of all persons on charges involving the abuse or deliberate neglect of a child; and
(c) All findings by a children’s court that a child is in need of care and protection because of abuse or deliberate neglect of the child.

This goes a long way to explaining why there is only one name on the Child Protection Register, a register that is supposed to record the names of paedophiles and individuals guilty of abusing children. The DSD doesn’t even know how many people have been convicted of child abuse, let alone who they are.

This parliamentary reply (a copy appears below) also reveals that the DSD is receiving conviction information on what seems to be an ad hoc basis, with access to that information being dependent on individual courts. While this situation is unsatisfactory, it has resulted in the DSD being able to put together an incomplete list of of 140 convictions for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 August 2011.

If the DSD does have a database detailing 140 convictions for sexual offences against children, why is there only one name on the Child Protection Register despite the cost of nearly R 1.8 million to develop and maintain this register?

I shall be submitting questions to the Minister of Social Development to find out why it has failed to comply with the requirements of the Children’s Act. I am also currently waiting for the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, to respond to my question regarding the reasons for the dysfunctional state of the Child Protection Register.

The welfare of all our children is at stake here. Child care workers are supposed to be screened against entries in the Child Protection Register before being allowed to work with children. If the Child Protection Register is dysfunctional there is no way of ensuring that convicted paedophiles are prevented from working with children.

The Minister needs to get her act together and protect our children from those who prey on them.