Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ There is no crisis of national significance in South Africa: children are being brutally assaulted on a horrifying scale. 1,100 children were murdered during the last financial year, SAPS crime statistics show. Between the first three quarters of the 2024/25 financial year alone, 1,181 children were victims of attempted murder, and over 6,200 were seriously harmed. These startling statistics underscore a stark reality: the safety of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens is in jeopardy, and those responsible for their protection are falling short.
Throughout Child Protection Week, attention is drawn to this key issue. In November 2024, at the Global Ministerial Conference on a World Free of Violence Against Children in Bogotá, South Africa made ambitious commitments by 2027 — from scaling up evidence-based parenting programmes to bolstering punishment against corporal punishment at school. The conference also committed to expanding access to 24-hour psychosocial support and scaling up the 365 Days Child Protection Programme in 52 districts.
But all these promises are on shaky foundations. The departments that will carry out these interventions are dysfunctional and have poor relationships with the NGOs that do most of the work. Late payment arrears, absence of respect for partnerships, and bureaucratic failures have held up development. For instance, the Gauteng Social Development Department was forced by the High Court, the third order of its kind, to compensate contracted NGOs, despite having underspent R500 million of their budget. KwaZulu-Natal has also left service providers unpaid in 2025, putting at risk essential services like food and salaries.
The heart of child protection work is within NGOs, but their relationship with the state has become increasingly suspicious and brittle. Without operational alliances, the children’s vision of a safer South Africa remains elusive. The path forward is the Sector Funding Policy (SFP), which has the potential to provide multi-year funding and strategic coherence. However, the policy does not feature in national planning, and the department continues to stagger from entrenched undercapacity and governance issues, testifying to its failure to obtain clean audits or finalize key partnerships since 2020.
To convert commitments into change, leadership has to meet the challenge. Minister Sisisi Tolashe needs to mend broken relationships, impose accountability, and bring about the systemic change required for meaningful action. Children of South Africa deserve better than empty words; they require action, collaboration, and safeguarding.
