South Africa is increasingly becoming an unsafe place for children to live and grow up. This is not due to a health epidemic or natural disaster. This is due to the high levels of crimes against children in South Africa.
Every hour, a child murder or assault is reported in South Africa. The statistics on crimes, and particularly, crime against children in South Africa is staggering. Year-on-year data shows either an increase or a stay in the number of cases. The data for the period 2016 period shows that on average 51 cases of murder are recorded each day in South Africa, and a high number of the cases are children. South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual abuse cases in the world with over 51,000 cases of sexual offences reported per annum. On an average, this represents 142 cases per day and the sad part is that a high number of these cases relate to children.
Millions of children in South Africa are not protected from human made harm as they should be. Increasingly, several children become victims of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and abandonment. Such violations limit the children’s chances of survival, growth, development and pursuit of their dreams.
All children have the right to protection. They have the right to survive, to be safe, to belong, to be heard, to receive adequate care and to grow up in a protective environment. South Africans constantly live in fear of their children becoming victims of crime such as child rape, murder, trafficking, kidnaping and other forms of abuse.
To continue to advance the protection of children in South Africa, Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA) will host a Gala Fundraising Dinner on 3 November 2017. The theme is Bloom 4 Our Children and it will hold at the Maslow Hotel Sandton. The Finance Minister Honorable Mr Malusi Gigaba, will be the guest speaker. There will be appearances by Miss South Africa, as well as Sports legends and business leaders rallying behind this initiative for the protection of children.
Similar events are expected to be held in the Provinces, both to raise awareness on the challenges of children and raise funds to support child protection initiatives. The initiative is aimed at supporting CWSA’s advocacy programme aimed at addressing the challenges of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Trafficking. The first of the Provincial events held in Mpumalanga on 14 October 2017. The event in Mpumalanga held at the Nutting House Nelspruit. The event had in attendance, the Judge President of Mpumalanga, Honourable Mr Justice M F Legodi as the Guest Speaker and the Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liason, Honourable P. Ngomane who gave a word of support. The event also had the current and former Mrs Mpumalanga, as well as the Runner-ups, the representatives of other government agencies, among other attendees. The event was used to launch the Provincial CWSA partnership campaign drives aimed at getting support for the work of CWSA. Other Provinces’ events will follow soon.
The Gala events are part of CWSA’s Bloom 4Our Children campaign drive. The campaign calls on South Africans to invest with luster and beauty in the protection of all children. The investment starts with attitude change on how individuals relate with the issues of Children and goes on to make a commitment towards their protection.
CWSA is the largest non-government, child protection organization in South Africa. CWSA is an umbrella body with a National Office and nine Provincial Offices, and represents 164 child welfare organizations across the provinces. At 94 years, CWSA leads in the achievement of a safe and caring environment for all children in South Africa through advocacy, research, capacity building and social mobilisation for action to protect children.
CWSA focuses on keeping children safe from exploitation, trafficking, abuse and violent crimes. CWSA through its members reaches over 2million children per annum and CWSA hopes to protect more children.
