29 May 2007
The SACP would this week join millions of our people and the Department of Social Development in making sure that we do assert the rights of South African children, especially the girl child in our country.
We also wish to congratulate the Minister of Social Development, Cde Zola Skweyiya, and his department for their leadership role on this critical front. Whilst we acknowledge and support various changes and improvements in laws as contained in the Children`s Bill of Right, and other progressive measures taken by government in this regard, we however remain concerned with the increasing levels of violence committed against children in our country.
Violence as committed through physical abuse, especially targeted at the girl child, most often than not by close relatives, criminals, human and drug trafficking lords is repugnant and un-welcomed in our society and should be eradicated.
Violence against children should also be understood against the background of socio-economic conditions in our country and the growing gap between the rich and the poor, thus increasing the possibilities of many of our children being exposed to hazardous living conditions. It is still the children from the so-called third word countries that still find themselves doing work that threatens their health, education and development, including the practice of child labour. In our country children from families whose economic life is trapped on the fringes of the mainstream capitalist economy find themselves as street vendors, farm workers and engaged in other unsafe survival activities, including racist abuse by sections of white capitalist farmers.
Therefore a critical dimension towards ensuring the protection of our children is that of intensifying the struggle against joblessness, poverty and the current accumulation regime that continues to enrich a few at the expense of the majority. We need to foster a developmental path that generates resources for our children to have access to free health care, free education, adequate standard of living for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. It is for these reasons that we also wish to re-iterate our call for government to implement a basic income grant for all South Africans.
It is against this background that the SACP supports the initiatives by the Department of Social Development to focus the attention of our country on the need to protect our children, as part of protecting our very own future.
We call upon all SACP structures, our cadres and indeed all our people to fully participate in all activities that focuses the attention of the country on child protection during this week.
Issued by the SACP
For more information Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson
082 226 1802