PUBLISHED BY:
WRITTEN BY:
Zeenat Sujee & Tendai Mafuma
When schools fail children, children fail. The scourge of gender-based violence has infiltrated all corners of our society and schools have not been spared.
Schools are foundational not only to a child’s future, but to that of our nation.
In schools, children are meant to be safe from all forms of harm so they can focus on learning, growing and developing to their full potential. However, the violence that children currently face in and around schools jeopardises their ability to learn, their health and wellbeing, and ultimately, their futures.
How the law protects children
Children enjoy some of the strongest protections in our Constitution. They are entitled not only to all the rights guaranteed to everyone in the Bill of Rights but also to a special set of rights set out in section 28 of the Constitution.
Amongst others, children have the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse and degradation.
These rights are immediately realisable and come with corresponding duties on the state to take all measures to ensure they are enjoyed, and always with the best interest of the child in mind. One of these steps is the passing and adoption of laws and policies that protect children from abuse.
The establishment of the National Child Protection Register
The Children’s Act 38 of 2005 was a welcome piece of legislation. One key development, which the Act introduced, was the establishment of the National Child Protection Register – a register that would include the names of every person deemed to be unsuitable to work with children.
The act identifies the Department of Social Development (DSD) as the department responsible for the care and protection of children, and places it at the centre of updating and maintaining the register. It also identifies other government departments, at both national and provincial levels, as having distinct obligations to ensure the effectiveness of the register.
The departments of justice and constitutional development, basic education (DBE), and the SA Police Service (SAPS) must work together to ensure that perpetrators are reported and included on the register.
But the register is not intended to be simply a record of perpetrators; it must be used to protect children.
As the employers of educators and school support staff, provincial departments of education have two main obligations:
- First, they must vet all their employees to ensure that they do not appear on the register.
- Secondly, they must report everyone to the DSD who has been found guilty in disciplinary proceedings relating to the abuse of children, such as sexual misconduct and corporal punishment.
Another law, unused…
Since its establishment, the register has been poorly maintained.
In 2011, after being in place for over 18 months, there was only one name on the register. In 2011, the SAPS reported in its annual crime statistics that there had been a decrease in the number of contact crimes against children and women. Amongst other reasons, the SAPS attributed this decrease in crimes against children to a “gradual elimination” from society of those perpetrators who commit heinous crimes against children.”
It cited statistics that showed a 7% and 2% increase in the number of inmates serving more than 20 years and life terms, respectively.
The logic here is that the easier it is for a perpetrator to access their victims, the higher the likelihood that the crime will be committed.
This is exactly the Register’s objective: to protect children by ensuring that people whose names appear on the register are not allowed to work with children, because that gives them access to their potential victims.
In 2012, the South African Human Rights Commission (SARHC) investigated the Register’s effectiveness. The findings revealed various challenges, including the DSD’s reliance on other departments to provide it with data to update the Register.
The department of justice and constitutional development, on the other hand, attributed their challenges and delays in training judicial officers to internal changes. In addition to this, the department of women, youth and people with disabilities, DSD and the department of justice and constitutional development confirmed that they were aware of the challenges pertaining to the implementation of the register, and attributed the lack of implementation to the lack of resources.
The SAHRC made recommendations to all departments to ensure the efficiency of the register.
A decade after SAHRC published its report, and over hundreds of cases of sexual violence of learners by teachers, the issues pertaining to the register continue.
Schools fail to take disciplinary action against perpetrators, and when they do, they fail to report adverse findings for inclusion on the register. Additionally, the DBE has confirmed that the vetting of employees against the Register only started in 2024, 14 years after it was instituted. As of March 2025, the DBE had only just over 10% of its employees vetted against the register.
On the other hand, the department of justice and constitutional development has not ensured that criminal convictions are reported to the DSD for inclusion in the register.
Further, the DSD has failed to put in place mechanisms that ensure the efficient monitoring and accessibility of the register to the relevant departments.
This timeline paints a picture of a state that is aware of the violence that children face in schools, especially from persons entrusted with their care, is aware of its obligations, and yet, year by year, continues to fail children.
Together, these failures weaken the protections afforded to children and are a violation of several constitutional rights, including the right to basic education. Because of this, SECTION27 has taken the responsible departments to court for their failure to maintain and implement the Register.
Some have questioned whether a sex offenders register or a child protection register is a solution to the scourge of gender-based violence. It is one of the tools at our disposal. Vetting teachers and support staff against it is one mechanism to curb sexual violence and other forms of abuse at schools.
At the very least, it ensures that while children are at school, which is a substantial amount of time, they are safe from sexual predators and abusers. However, the vetting requires continued monitoring and vetting and cannot be a once-off exercise.
Concerted efforts from police enforcement and the expeditious finalisation of matters in courts are needed to boost confidence in the state and the courts.
Vetting is the first step, but it requires that departments work together to ensure that the maintenance and implementation of the register is effective.
Whilst the register does not “eliminate from society” people who have been deemed unsuitable to work with children, it serves to minimise sexual predators and persons unsuitable to work with children from places that work with children.
As we commemorate 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (25 November to 10 December), we cannot ignore how the spaces designed for children have become the very spaces where children are at risk of failing prey to predators, and we are failing to protect them.
Zeenat Sujee is the Head of Education Rights at SECTION27 and Tendai Mafuma is a Senior Legal Researcher at SECTION27.
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