Building a South Africa that is safe for its children is not out of reach, however it requires more “localisation” on issues (a bottom-up approach) to inform the policies to protect children from violence and abuse.
This was some of the advice given by the Special Rapporteur, Social and health envoy from the AU Commission, Takam Kembo of Cameroon, during an engagement with various organisations, departments, civil society and agencies dealing with challenges facing children across the country and continent.
Kembo’s visit entails conducting a monitoring visit on the progress South Africa has made to end child marriages and harmful cultural practices against children.
Furthermore, it forms part of a series of visits that the AU Commission is expected to conclude around the region ahead of the upcoming 4th African Girls Summit in November this year.
After her visit to South Africa, the envoy will head to Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Madagascar, Tunisia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles and Namibia, with the hopes of understanding the successful strategies and practices in different regions of Africa so that countries can learn from one another.
According to Statistics South Africa, 207 child marriages were recorded in 2021 in the country.
Dr Seble Worku, a director within Statistics South Africa’s, Education and Child department, revealed that of the 207 child marriages, 188 were brides and only 19 were grooms.
She further revealed that 37 of the child marriages were registered as civil marriages and 19 were customary.
Worku explained that despite an improvement in children living in low income households at 2.6 million, with 4.0 million in high income households, pensions and grants were still the highest source of income for children in rural areas.
She added that the number of children who lived with only their mothers had also continued to rise in the country, while the number of orphaned children declined to 11.5 % in 2021 from 14.3 % in 2002.
Kembo said that so far South Africa had robust systems in place to protect children, a substantial budget and policies.
However she stressed the need for more “localisation”, with actions to come from the bottom to the top, so national policies are informed by what is happening on the ground instead of by leaders.