Programme Director;

Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu;

MEC of Social Development in North West, Ms Kgakgamatso Nkewu;

Local Councillors Present;

Acting Director-General of Social Development, Mr Thokozani Magwaza;

Senior managers and officials of Social Development, SASSA and NDA;

Parents and children present here;

Ladies and gentlemen;

 

Today I am honoured to be part of Child Protection Week Launch which is an important occasion for both the current and future generations.  The Government of the South Africa, led by the Department of Social Development is launching this campaign under the theme, “Let Us All Protect Children to Move South Africa Forward”.

This campaign is important in the lives of South Africans as it seeks to amongst other things; raise awareness and assist parents, Child Care Givers, guardians and society as a whole to be vigilant and partner with government in protecting and creating a safe and secure environment for children.

This year, Child Protection Week campaign which runs from today, 25 May until 05 June 2016, will be focussing on children living in farming areas of South Africa.

The campaign also serve as an opportunity to condemn child labour, neglect, exploitation, human trafficking, teenage pregnancy, cyberbullying as well as forced marriages such as Ukuthwala.

Programme Director

The Social Development held community dialogues with children and adults here in Braakspruit.  Some of the issues raised during the dialogues were child abuse, teenage pregnancy, bullying at schools, misuse of social grants, high crime rate, school drop-outs, domestic violence, rape, child abduction and trafficking, substance abuse and poverty.

According to the children’s dialogues report, child abuse is mainly caused by abuse of alcohol by parents and step fathers.

Is for this reason that the department is calling for South Africans to partner with government during Child Protection Week Campaign and beyond.   Parents, teachers, caregivers as well as civic and religious organisations must also play their part in the fight against abuse of children.

We know that some parents are afraid of reporting child abusers to the law enforcement authorities.  Some parents also accept lobola for their girl children who are minors and are not matured enough to take informed decisions.

This is another form of child abuse which we normally turn a blind eye on instead of taking immediate action which is in the interest of our girl children.

After twenty two years into democracy; South Africans must unite and protect girl children who for many years have been oppressed, marginalised and undermined based on their gender.

We have a responsibility to stand up and fight patriarchy which continue to persist in various societal organisations such as schools, churches and the working environment.

Human rights, as enshrined clearly in the Constitution of South Africa must be enjoyed and realised by all South Africans regardless of their gender.

Ladies and gentlemen

Despite all these challenges; government has done a lot to improve the living conditions of our people, especially children.

To ensure that Child and Youth Headed Households are identified so they can receive necessary support from government; Social Development is in the process of compiling a Child and Youth Headed Register in all Provinces.

To date, Three Thousand Two Hundred and Fourteen Child Headed Households as well as Six Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty Two Youth Headed Households have been identified.

Government is also working hard to address the scourge of child abuse, neglect and exploitation of women and children.  To this effect, Cabinet established the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) which is led by Social Development to Combat Violence against Women and Children.

Amongst its interventions, the department established a 24 Hour Gender Based Violence (GBV) Command Centre which provides counselling and support services to survivors of abuse and violence.  We encourage survivors of gender based violence to contact 24 hour toll-free number on 0800 428 428.

Callers can also access the free SMS line by dialling *120*7867#.  As an alternative, survivors may also call ChildLine toll free number on 0800 055 555 which will be linked with the command centre to integrate social services.

The GBV Command Centre will be linked with SASSA 24hour helpline by the end of July this year.  This will help assist all including social grant recipients who experience on their social grant income.

Fellow South Africans

This Government of the people has an obligation of ensuring that children are protected through social assistance programme.  More than Sixteen Million Nine Hundred and Fifty South Africans are beneficiaries of social grants.

Our government spend more than Eleven Billion Rand on social grants and Twelve Million Five Hundred and Forty Five Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty Four social grant beneficiaries are children.

In North West Province, government is paying social grants to more than One Million One Hundred and Ninety Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Two beneficiaries.  More than Eight Hundred and Fifteen Million Six Hundred and Ten Thousand Rand is spent on Child Support Grant in the province.

To improve the living conditions of women and children and ensuring that their needs are taken care of; the Department of Social Development and its agencies, SASSA and NDA launched a cooperatives programme.

It is through cooperatives that unemployed women have more access to economic opportunities through food production and school uniform cooperatives.

During the last financial year, the department spent more than Two Hundred and Fifty One Million Rand to buy school uniform and agricultural food products directly from cooperatives.

This initiative is part of Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Programme which puts money directly into the hands of the poor black people who so far have been excluded from the mainstream economy.

School uniforms give back pride and dignity to children living in poor families and also protect them from being teased and bullied at schools by their peers from rich families.

Programme Director

Research has already shown that young children with exposure to an education environment that mould their social, cognitive and emotional skills – have a chance of becoming better citizens later in life.

We therefore want children who leave correctional centres to access Early Childhood Development centres in the country.  ECD was declared by the ruling party as a public good.

All children between 0 and 4 years must attend ECD centres to receive quality education which is suitable for their mental and physical development.  Cabinet have also approved the ECD Policy which will help with overall improvement of the ECD implementation, more especially the first 1 000 days of life programme. 

By the end of last financial year; more than Twenty Seven Thousand ECD centres were registered with the department and Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Seven Hundred Forty children were receiving ECD subsidy.

More than One Million Three Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty children have access to ECD services.  More than One billion Rand was spend on ECDs.

In addition, an amount of Eight Hundred and Ten Million is allocated as conditional grant to the nine provincial departments over the period 2017 / 18 financial year.

As part of protecting Orphaned and Vulnerable Children the Department of Social Development is currently rolling out Community Based Child and Youth Care services through Isibindi model.

Through trained Child and Youth Care Workers; the department directly offer direct psycho-social support to orphaned and vulnerable children in their homes.  These children are also assisted with their home works so they can perform well at school.

To date, Six Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety Six children received prevention, early intervention and protection services through this programme.

Three Hundred and Fifty Eight Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have also partnered with the department to implement the Isibindi model and Seven Thousand Two Hundred and Eighty Three Child and Youth Care Workers are currently on training.

Last year, more than Two Thousand Eight Hundred grade 12 learners wrote final year examinations and achieved a Sixty Six Percent pass rate.

To ensure that the education of these learners continues without interruption; we are negotiating with the NSFAS to make sure that learners from Isibindi Programme are not subjected to a means test to qualify for financial support to further their studies.

Thirty Nine Thousand Five Hundred and Fourteen Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which offer services to children in the country; are currently registered with Social Development.  Out of these, North West Province has Two Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Three registered NGOs which provide necessary care and support in areas of temporary safe care, services for children with special needs and ECD services for children.

Ladies and gentlemen

Government developed pieces of legislation such as the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 which calls for repatriation of distressed children from foreign countries.

These include repatriation of children who their mothers are serving jail sentences in foreign countries because of drug related crimes.  We will continue to provide care and support to South African children whose mothers are imprisoned in foreign countries.

Between the period of 2008 and 2016, we managed to repatriate over 18 South African children, who are born in correctional services in foreign countries.

It is important for immediate families and relatives of children in similar distress to come to volunteer and adopt or foster these children in the absence of their parents.

Our social workers will continually visit the guardian parents of repatriated children to ensure that they are protected against any form of abuse.

Ladies and gentlemen

In order to address some of the systemic and administration foster care challenges; a Foster Care Committee was appointed to conduct an analysis and make key proposals to the department in order to review the foster care programme.

The committee will continue finalise its work by conducting visits in provinces during the current financial year.

By the end of March this year, more than Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand Six Hundred children were receiving foster care child grants.  These are children under care of Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Two Hundred Forty Seven foster parents.

The department has developed Parenting Programme which also focuses on young parents.  Currently this programme is being rolled out through training in all provinces.

The Department of Social Development has in partnership with USAID developed a directory of services for vulnerable children and identified Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) registered with the department.

This partnership seeks to offer services to vulnerable children in each district in all nine provinces.  The directory seeks to promote networking, coordination and referrals among service providers, improve utilisation and access of services to children and increase awareness of available resources.

The Department is finalising the directory and it will also be printed in braille for people visually impaired persons. South Africans are also reminded to take care of persons with disabilities.  Children with disabilities must not be hidden from the public – but they must be taken to special school to access education which is a constitutional right for all.

In closure; I would like to indicate that the first citizen of South Africa; honourable President Jacob Zuma, is also in full support of Child Protection Week.  On the First Day of June, the President will be part of Child Protection Week activities in Atteridgeville.

The President will among other things; highlight government’s interventions in the care and protection of vulnerable children. The 1st of June is commemorated globally as the International Children’s Day.

The campaign will be officially closed in Amersfoort; which is also a farming area in Mpumalanga Province.

Let us dedicate this week and all 365 day in a year to protect our children from abuse.

As a caring government; we encourage all South Africans to wear a Green Ribbon during Child Protection Week to show support for promotion of the rights, care and protection of the children.  The Green Ribbon, which was adopted by National Child Protection Committee in 2004; is a symbol of Child Protection, Life, Growth, Hope, Care, Support and Commitment.

The Green Ribbon also informs victims and survivors of abuse that we are united in their support.  It further emphasise the importance of partnership to address child abuse, neglect and exploitation.  We call upon all South Africans to practice the spirit of Ubuntu which taught us that: MY CHILD IS YOUR CHILD!

Thank You