Speaking notes for The member of the Executive Council Ms Nandi Mayathula Khoza on the occasion of launch of the Child Protection Week campaign in Protea South, Soweto
Director of the Programme
The Ward Clr
Members of the Community Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen;
I thank all of you for coming to join us as we mark the national Child Protection Week here in Protea South, Soweto.
The Child Protection Week was started in 1997 by the National Government to raise awareness, as well as to mobilise all sectors of our communities in caring and protecting our children.
We are here today as a confirmation that the Gauteng Provincial Government is committed to implementing the principle of “A Province fit for children” and the Department of Social Development (GDSD) has programmes and interventions to care and protect children and uphold their rights.
But we also listen to you. We are constantly in touch with the communities so that we can serve you better. We know for example that this community is
particularly affected by of poverty, crime and substance abuse. We are also aware that the people of Chiawelo, Dlamini, Protea, Mapetla, Phiri and Senaone you are struggling with access to Early Childhood Development Centre, you are faced by the threat of food security as it affects child headed households in particular. We know that you are dealing with problems of drug abuse, crime and child abuse.
We are also aware that many families in this community are granny headed households who depend solely on social grants. We are aware that an alarmingly large number of children in schools in this area support their families. Many of these children lost their parents to HIV and aids-related illnesses despite the roll-out of free antiretroviral drugs by government.
Your government agrees that these conditions are unacceptable and are not ideal to raise children. They are unhealthy to them as they expose minors to depression, anxiety and stress at an early age.
The mission of this government is to improve quality of life, reduced hunger and poverty amongst our vulnerable citizens, through accelerated social transformation.
We believe that there is only one way to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty and to effectively fight against poverty that is to target malnutrition and ensure early learning. It is extremely important for young mothers to ensure nutritious foods for children right from birth. The ideal start is breast feeding which means children should have mothers milk and nothing else for the first six months. We must guard against poor infant and young child feeding practices, poor health access and unhealthy or unsanitary environment.
Nutrition from a variety of healthy foods is an essential complement to human breast milk to ensure healthy growth and brain development. This is the right nutrition during the first 1’000 day’s window which helps our children’s brain and growth; improve a child’s school-readiness and educational achievement and reduce disparities in health, education and earning potential.
The Gauteng Government is steadfast and committed to improving the quality of children’s lives because this will save more than one million lives each year; boost a country’s GDP by as much a 12%; and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
Young mothers need to know that early education secures the child’s future. As government, we are mindful of this requirement hence we have increased care and development of children through financial support for children accessing ECD Services.
We have begun our massification of ECDs with the sole objective of increasing universal access of children to ECD services (registered) from 10.86 % to 12.05 %. An estimated 84% of children in this country do not have access to formal ECD (1 in 5 children attends formal ECD). Given that we are an urban province, large numbers of children attend private & independent Pre-Grade R facilities in our province. There are between 2 000 & 4 000 unregistered ECDs in Gauteng.
Our aim is to provide comprehensive services as a means to improve the country’s human capital and reduce intergenerational poverty. ECD centres do this by ensuring that children are fed nutritional food, their minds are stimulated for good cognitive development, quality health care is provided by bringing them health care services such as immunisation, and that social assistance programmes are made available to them. Besides playing a critical role in the foundation of human development, ECD centres form part of the women empowerment programmes as they afford women time to empower themselves to seize work opportunities at their disposal.
Over the last few years, we have introduced various measures to improve ECD services in Gauteng. This includes significant increases and equalisation of ECD subsidies. The spending increased from R8 per child per day for 264 days per year to R15 per child per day for 264 days a year.
As the champion of radical social transformation for the GPG, we endeavour to build a society that prioritises the rights of children, the creation of an inclusive society, as spelt out in the freedom charter. For this reason, we confront drug abuse with all our might. Drugs are destroying our youth and robbing us of the energy and talent we so dearly need in our nation. We cannot lose the war against drugs.
The scourge of substance abuse has a devastating effect on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of families and communities. Crime levels are soaring daily and family members and communities are overwhelmed by the destruction of this scourge.
For us to win this war, we have to work together and bring together whatever resources are available. Both the Children’s Act No. 38 / 2005, the National Policy Framework and the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Management of Child Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (CANE) (2004), advocate for a co- ordinated and integrated approach by all government departments and civil society organizations to maximize efficient utilization of resources and enhance an effective response system for child victims and those at risk of abuse.
Government has instituted various instruments and mechanisms for the protection of children, with a focus on prevention and early intervention services in place.
South Africa, as the economic powerhouse of our region, has long been a magnet for migrants. Many of them are children who cross borders unaccompanied by families or other adult caregivers. Numbers of unaccompanied children has reached proportions that resemble a humanitarian emergency. In the border town of Musina, for example, the Save the Children/UNICEF programme has assisted over 700 new arrivals in the first quarter of this year with an additional 800 plus children from Zimbabwe assisted through drop-in centres.
Our responsibility is to find ways to ensure that undocumented children in Gauteng Province benefit from appropriate care and support and to provide clarity on the role division for each stakeholder dealing with undocumented and unaccompanied children.
According to Section 1 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; a “child” is a person under 18 years. Foreign children found in SA are included in this definition and they are thus offered the same protection in terms of legislation. A foreign child that might be in need of care and protection for example unaccompanied foreign child should be dealt with as prescribed in this Act.
Conclusion
It is after all the African worldview that “it takes a village to raise a child.” This time tested adage, emphasises the values of family relationships, parental care, self-sacrificing concern for others, sharing, and even hospitality. I urge you today to be a village that advocates for children’s rights. Let us educate and mobilise families and communities about their responsibility towards the protection and care of children.
Let us reduce incidents of Child Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation and let us uphold Government’s commitment to protect and promote children’s rights in partnership as a caring society.
Thank you.
