Western Cape Children's Commissioner under the spotlight
20 August 2019
The Western Cape is a dangerous place for children. The province has the highest child murder rate in the country, with four children murdered every week. Besides that, children are subject to violence, abuse and rape every day. This is in stark contrast with the rights extended to children under both international and South African law. South Africa has committed to respecting children’s rights, including their right to life, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the South African Constitution.
With this unacceptable situation in mind, children’s rights advocates have campaigned for a Commissioner for Children (Children’s Commissioner) in the Western Cape for almost 20 years. Their calls to establish a State institution to monitor and promote children’s rights are founded in the Constitution of the Western Cape, which specifically provides for a provincial Children’s Commissioner. In February, children’s rights advocates celebrated a huge victory in their struggle, when the Western Cape legislature enacted the Western Cape Commissioner for Children Act (the Act).
The Act finally establishes a Children’s Commissioner in the Western Cape, who is empowered to monitor, advise, recommend, investigate, research, educate and lobby on children’s rights in the fields of health services, education, welfare services, recreation and sport. In the exercise of its monitoring function, the Commissioner assesses the impact of provincial policy, legislation and state organs in the said areas on the rights of children. To this end, he or she may set up a provincial monitoring system and collaborate with child rights bodies in both the public and the non-governmental sector. The monitoring may also result in advice and recommendations, with an obligation to report to the Commissioner for the monitored institution. The Commissioner is empowered to investigate children’s rights issues on his or her own initiative, or on the occasion of a complaint. When investigating, the Commissioner may accompany police when they investigate, subpoena witnesses and request them to produce evidence, as well as administer an oath or affirmation to witnesses.
There is general agreement that the former institutional set-up was insufficient to end the cycle of violence against children in the Western Cape. Before the Act was passed, the Children’s Rights portfolio at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was the only institutional body mandated to monitor and promote children’s rights. Due to severe budget constraints, the SAHRC’s work is constantly impaired. Out of the Commission’s total budget of R189.7 million allocated for 2019/20, only R 13.2 million - or 7% - will be available for core operations. This amount has to be split between seven different human rights portfolios, of which children’s rights are just one. At the same time, the SAHRC is supposed to cover all of South Africa.