Poverty traps and Social Exclusion among Children in South Africa: South African Human Rights Commission briefing

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed Members to the meeting, together with the representatives from the Human Rights Commission (the Commission). The Ministry of Social Development was doing a lot of work in the protection of families, the young and the vulnerable, sectors which were important for the future of the country. The mandate of the Department was very clear and centred on protecting the family unit. However the escalation of violence was worrisome, which had the potential to disturb the country’s tranquillity and social cohesion. While the Committee could not deal with the issue of violence directly, it was clear that children needed to grow up in a peaceful and non-violent environment. The Commission was one of the institutions that supported democracy. Future social cohesion, peace and stability need to be protected.

Presentation: South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC’s) Work on Children’s Rights
Ms Lindiwe Mokate, Commissioner: Child Rights and Basic Education, Human Rights Commission, briefed the Committee on the work the Commission does with children. Chapter Nine institutions looked to Parliament for assistance in the work they do. The presentation structure focused on the mandate of the Commission, its strategy, the promotion of education, the protection of children and the challenges faced by the Commission.

In terms of Section 184 (1) of the Constitution, the mandate of the Commission was to:

•Promote respect for human rights and a culture of human rights
•Promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights
•Monitor and assess the observance of human rights in the Republic

Each year, the Commission required that relevant organs of the state provide it with information on the measures taken towards the realisation of the rights in the Bill of Rights concerning housing, health care, food, water, social security and the environment. The Commission co-operated with various institutions that were involved in child rights, such as UNICEF, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and the Centre for Child Law, the Children’s Institute and various children’s Non-Governmental Organisations throughout the country. The Commission established an advisory committee on the Rights of the Child. The committee was formed in terms of Section 11 of the Human Rights Commission Act, and was largely an information resource on what was happening on the Children’s sector.

The Commission was carrying out advocacy and human rights education initiatives through hosting events, presentation of conference papers and participation in stakeholder events. The practice of corporate punishment in schools was still a serious challenge throughout the country. In 2013 the Commission held a Dialogue on Corporate Punishment in Schools, one of the resolutions was that a conference on the subject would be convened. A national conference was convened on 29 and 30 May 2014 titled “Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools”.

In terms of some of the Commission’s research work, in 2011 the Commission in partnership with UNICEF South Africa compiled a study entitled “South Africa’s Children: A Review of Equality and Child Rights”. This publication aimed to demonstrate the multiple deprivations suffered by children from various segments of child population. In January 2013 the Commission launched the Charter of Children’s Basic Education Rights. The Charter was a consolidated statement of obligations seeking to bring together international instruments and national laws and policies into a unified trajectory for realising the right to basic education. The main purpose of the Charter was to enable the Commission to monitor the realisation of the right to basic education and to assist other stakeholders in their work in the sector. The Commission also commissioned a study on “Poverty Traps and Social Exclusion among Children in South Africa”. The study aimed to examine why some children had managed to escape poverty while others remained caught up in it.

With regard to the protection of children the Commission also contributes to and signs off on all investigative reports produced by the Commission concerning children’s rights and the right to basic education. Some of the challenges faced by the Commission were that the new structure of government no longer had a specific focus on children, the use of corporal punishment in schools, the high number of children who were still living without parents or guardians, and poverty among children.

Report on a Study on Poverty Traps and Social Exclusion among Children in South Africa, Human Rights Commission
Ms Mokate continued. The Commission established a dedicated Children and Basic Education Desk. She provided some background to the study and explained that the new democratic government recorded certain gains in the reduction of poverty in the country; however, disturbing evidence of considerable and deep-rooted and sustained poverty among children was evident. In 2013 the Commission partnered with UNICEF, with the assistance of the University of Stellenbosch, to study this phenomenon.

The scope of the study was two things; to determine the extent to which children in South Africa were still caught in a poverty trap or were socially excluded from economic and political life, and to determine the factors that enabled poverty traps and social exclusion to be perpetuated in the country. Some of the observations made by the Commission were that:

•Twenty years into democracy, race remained a predicator of future deprivation for today’s children
•Widespread income inequality persisted
•Poor quality of education and challenges in the access of education were rife
•High levels of youth unemployment in the country
•The poor and unemployed tend to be the rural uneducated woman and young, forcing them to be excluded from the mainstream economy and society

Key issues identified by the study were: health, education, social and family influences, geographic influences, and wealth and assets. Some of the recommendations which emanated from the study were that breastfeeding was encouraged, education at pre-school and foundation-phase levels needed to be improved, Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers and practitioners needed to be trained and support in ECD facilities also needed to be improved, wealth and assets needed to be increased through social security and the maintenance of other welfare services, the state also needed to enforce the payment of child maintenance by absent fathers, community workers in rural areas needed to be expanded, municipal and other infrastructure and services needed to be improved, particularly in poor households and in rural areas.

The proposed way forward was that the Committee endorse the recommendations, and that Parliament call upon the Executive to implement policy recommendation of this study. Parliament also needed to consider additional funding allocations to enable the achievement of these recommendations.

Discussion
Ms S Tsoleli (ANC) said the study was commissioned in 2013, some of the recommendations made have been implemented, such as those around ECD, and a lot of progress has been made in implementing various strategies. Collaboration and integration of all the studies already done in this regard was very important. For example the training of teachers and ECD practitioners was already underway; however the Committee still had a responsibility to strengthen these recommendations. There still needed to be more debate on the matter of quality education, how was it measured? Would it be measured at the end of the schooling year or would it be progress measured throughout a child’s schooling life? How would quality education be defined? What were some of the shortcoming within the current education system and how could the current situation within the country be analysed?

The Chairperson said after the report, government took the initiative and implemented some of the recommendations, however deep levels of poverty still remained. She agreed that some work has been done in establishing ECD’s and identifying poverty areas or “hot spots” throughout the country. The outstanding argument was that there was still no indicator for quality education; what were some of the key performance areas and indicators in this regard?

Ms Tsoleli asked that the Commission provide the Committee with some of the statistics used in the study; what were the focus areas? Was there a document of comparison available; what were the baselines? The summary document provided to the Committee in the form of the presentation was not of much assistance.

The Chairperson said the Committee had a responsibility to try and address some the concerns raised in the report, particularly that of children living without parents or guardians, even if short term interventions were implemented in the interim. Therefore statistics from the Commission indicating where these “hot spots” were, would indeed be of great use to the Committee.

Ms E Wilson (DA) thanked the Commission for the recommendations, however implementation was a totally different thing all together. Of primary concern was the state of childcare facilities throughout the country. An example was a facility in Limpopo that was looking after 28 cerebral palsy children; aged between 3 and 8 years of age, these children shared seven beds between them. The facility was in a very poor state. This was a serious childcare issue.

The Chairperson appealed that Members provide recommendations to the report as a way forward.

Ms Wilson said the Committee needed to work hand in hand with the Commission in tackling some of the issues outlined in the presentation. People in rural areas were largely poorly educated about childcare and getting assistance and recognition from the Department of Social Development (the Department) was proving to be extremely difficult. There were not enough social development workers on the ground providing training and assistance for these centres.

The Chairperson agreed with Ms Wilson and indicated that the Department was contesting with other government departments for limited resources. The Department needed to lobby for additional funds, and this would be where the work of the Committee would become critical. The abuse of children’ rights could no longer be tolerated.

Ms H Maxon (EFF) said the matter under discussion was a very complex and touching one, however the study was well appreciated. The main cause of poverty was structural challenges; government was not addressing the main causes of poverty. Breastfeeding needed to be encouraged, and the Department needed to work closely with other departments such as the Department of Health. Government’s economic cluster needed to come up with radical changes. The Committee was still waiting for more reports from the Department on the ECD programame.

Ms L van der Merwe (IFP) said it was good to see people with a passion for the work that they do. The suggestions and recommendations put to the Committee through the report would be reflected why. The rights of children were very important; she asked that the Commission provide the Committee with some indication of the number of disabled children who were not receiving basic education. How many of these children were not going to school? Another concern was bullying at school; about 40% of children were suffering some kind of bullying at school; what was being done to address that? Adoption, which was currently on the decrease in the country, was also of serious concern. There was too much red tape around the process of adoption, the Minister of Social Development acknowledged this, and the result was that too many children were left vulnerable.

The Chairperson said not much adoption took place in rural areas because children were usually left in the care of extended family members. However the issue of indigenous adoptions was one that the Committee and the Department still needed to look into. 

Mr S Mabilo (ANC) said the tremendous changes in the reduction of poverty that came about as a result of the current government should not be downplayed. Some of these were not only unprecedented in Africa but in the world at large. It was however important to acknowledge the triple challenges which the country was still tackling; poverty, unemployment and inequality. More than 300 years of inequality and unequal development could not be addressed in 20 years. He asked to what extent the study took into account the current interventions and strides taken by government.

Ms Mokate replied that the Commission had compiled a book that indicated in detail the work which government has done in the eradication of poverty, among other things, over the last 20 years. However the presentation was a summary of the book, which recorded in detail government successes in different areas.

The Chairperson said the meeting was not supposed to be an interaction with the content of the research because the Committee was pressed for time. The Committee would be requesting a copy of the full study from the Commission. Members were only supposed to reflect on matters they felt needed more attention, and provide recommendations as a way forward. The presentation was not there to speak to what government was not doing right, rather it was highlighting certain factors.

Mr Mabilo said there were certain gaps that he wanted to interrogate with the report, however the issue of time was noted.

The Chairperson asked that Members take the coming week’s meeting to thoroughly deal with the content of the report.

Ms Tsoleli asked whether the Commissioner would be invited to next week’s meeting so that Members could interrogate them?

The Chairperson said there needed to be a special Committee meeting, and the Commissioner would be invited as well to respond to whatever questions Members might further have on the report. A deeper discussion on the report would not be possible due to time constraints.

Mr Mabilo was not happy with the proposed way forward. He proposed that the Committee ignore some of the recommendations from the Commission until Members had ample time to discuss the report and come up with their own recommendations without being influenced by a Chapter 9 institution.

The Chairperson responded that the Committee was still far from adopting the recommendations. The meeting was not about adopting the report; Members were simply receiving a presentation from the Commission. She acknowledged that Members had not sufficiently satisfied their interrogations to the Commission, and reminded Members that during the Children’s Parliament, the children made their own recommendations to the House, and these would be considered by the Committee and forwarded to the Department. The Committee’s mandate to protect children would be upheld. The Portfolio Committee of Justice would also need to be consulted on some of the matters raised.

Ms H Malgas (ANC) raised concerns about the time factor and that Members would not be able to interrogate the report to their full satisfaction. It was also important that the Commission also highlight how they attempted to resolve some of the issues and concerns raised in the report. What has been the impact of the report?

The Chairperson said the chairpersons of different departments would also be engaged. The issues around health should be dealt with in collaboration with the Department of Health.

Ms S Kopane (DA) thanked the Commission for the presentation. The report was very good; however there were still other factors that were still very challenging. The report was not an attack on the work of government, the Committee together with the Commission needed to work together to address the challenges highlighted. Education was still very worrisome; did the Commissioner have the resources to tackle some of these challenges? With regard to monitoring progress made in addressing some of these challenges, how often did the Commission monitor compliance, where there any punitive measures the Commissioner was able to enforce?

Ms V Mogotsi (ANC) asked whether there were any childcare centres that the Commission was aware of, especially for children who were in violation of the law. With regard to ECD’s she said childcare workers were not yet professional; only social workers were professional. 

Ms Mokate thanked Members for the engagements with the presentation. She has visited all childcare centres throughout the country, accompanying the former Minister of Justice. The Commission did not dictate to Parliament; according to the Human Rights Act, the Commission was only mandated to make recommendations after every report to Parliament. Parliament could either take or discard the recommendations. She acknowledged that it would be very difficult for Members to consider the recommendations in the report without discussing the content to their satisfaction. If Members had gone through the report many of the questions would not have been asked. For instance there was a chapter dedicated to the research done in the African region and internationally as points of the Commission’s research work.

On quality education, a lot of work has been done in the country, however there were still major challenges in that area, one being the lack of teachers and materials in schools. On children with disabilities, she acknowledged that the study had not done sufficient justice to the matter. A lot still needed to be done in this area. She agreed that there were not enough people working with children on the ground. On the point around the training of childcare workers, this did not fall under the Commission’s mandate; however government was aware that more effort needed to be put into training these childcare workers. This was an important matter, and it needed to be addressed. The issue of time was unfortunate. On the centres for children who were in conflict with the law the process has not been clearly understood by the police, and there was a shortage of social workers in the country. The Child Justice Act was a very good piece of legislation but the country was battling with a shortage of resources. This was one area where the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Development worked together.

With regard to access to education, South Africa had near universal access to basic education; South Africa had met the Millennium Development Goal around this. The problem was that many children were still falling out of the system very quickly. The issue of public versus private schooling was a significant contributor to this. A lot of children entered the system but dropped out before they finished matric. The report provided a lot of statistics on issues that were being discussed. The Commission’s capacity to monitor and do follow-ups on the recommendations it made was not adequate. The coming year would be different because the Commission was given more money. When the Commission made recommendations after a site visit, it was expected that Parliament would be the one to take up the implementation of the recommendation and it’s monitoring.

The Chairperson concluded that Chapter 9 institutions were the eyes and ears of government. They had a mandate to conduct investigations and bring back the relevant information to Parliament, while making recommendations for addressing matters of concern. It was therefore the responsibility of the Committee to engage the Commission, together with its recommendations. The Commission had no mandate to deal with any department directly.

The meeting was adjourned.