LISA SCHICKERLING | SA is failing its children and government is complicit

I recently sat in a courtroom and listened to the harrowing details that emerged of an 11-year-old girl who was allegedly impregnated by her mother’s boyfriend.

I can’t imagine the unbearable trauma she had to endure in silence while the adults and institutions entrusted with her protection failed her. It is a devastating reminder of the extent to which South Africa is failing its children.

A week after we marked Child Protection Week, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: our children are being failed, not by accident, but through neglect, broken systems and a national government that looks away while predators thrive.

Every day in this country, girls as young as nine are impregnated by men decades older than them, and instead of justice we see silence.

Too often families plead with police not to open a case because “he is the breadwinner”. But being poor is not a licence to commit statutory rape.

Such men should be arrested and prosecuted, and parents who enable it must face charges of child abuse.

When police officers shrug off these crimes or “settle” them privately, they are not mediators; they are accomplices in the exploitation of children.

This failure runs deep.

The Children’s Act, meant to shield our youth, has become a loophole that criminals and gangs use to their advantage.

Across the country, minors are being used by gangsters to commit arson, assault and even murder, knowing the system will treat them with leniency. Yet the national government’s only response is another “task team” or “strategy” while children die in communities where law enforcement has all but collapsed.

The SA Police Service (SAPS) has repeatedly shown itself incapable of protecting women and children.

We have severe detective shortages, untrained officers, shortages of critical D1 and D7 crime kits, and backlogs in DNA and sexual offence cases that stretch into years. These failures do not merely delay justice, they deepen the suffering of victims and their families.

Survivors who have already endured unimaginable trauma are forced to relive their experiences repeatedly as investigations stall, evidence is delayed and court proceedings drag on year after year.

This secondary trauma is often inflicted by the very system that is supposed to support them. Every missing rape kit, every delayed forensic result and every postponed court date sends a devastating message to survivors: that their pain is not a priority.

When survivors finally gather the courage to report crimes, they are too often met with indifference or incompetence. In many cases, dockets disappear, statements are lost and perpetrators walk free.

How can SA claim to prioritise child protection when the institutions entrusted with protecting children are failing them?

But the blame cannot stop at SAPS. This is also a societal collapse.

In community after community, young girls are being sexually exploited, sometimes sleeping with many men a night for as little as R1,500. Many of these young girls even advertise their “services” on social media, using the money to buy items to fit in and look “good”.

This is not empowerment; it is desperation, poverty and abuse wrapped in silence.

What future awaits these girls when society normalises their exploitation and national government ignores their suffering?

Even worse, some community elders actively encourage teenage pregnancy, claiming it preserves “heritage” while benefiting from child grants.

We must have the courage to say what many fear to: our social welfare system is being manipulated to justify abuse.

It is time to rethink how child grants are allocated and monitored, ensuring they support children’s growth and education, not enable the men who exploit them.

Yet, amid all this darkness, there is a flicker of light, a purple movement that is taking flame across the country.

It is a growing wave of South Africans who are tired of empty promises, tired of national government indifference, and determined to stand up against gender-based violence and the exploitation of children in every form.

The purple ribbon has become more than a symbol; it is a call to action, a reminder that if our leaders will not protect our women and children, ordinary citizens must rise and do what the state refuses to do.

Child Protection Week reminds us of our collective responsibility towards our children, and we must move beyond awareness campaigns and symbolic gestures.

We need a national government that prioritises justice over politics, a SAPS that protects rather than excuses, and communities that refuse to tolerate abuse hidden behind culture, poverty or tradition.

Child Protection Week should be a catalyst for action. Until we hold perpetrators accountable, strengthen law enforcement, and place the safety of children above political convenience, we will continue to fail the people who depend on us most.

The time for talk is long over; the time for accountability, justice and collective action has come

• Schickerling is DA MP and spokesperson on police.