While one in three children in South Africa were subjected to abuse, according to the Department of Social Development, very few cases were ever prosecuted in the country’s courts.
Recently the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Children’s Institute released the Child Abuse Tracking Study 2017, stating only 19% of cases reported to social services were cross-referred to the police and 8% in return.
These figures were confirmed by the Children’s Institute study despite the police claiming it had referred 35% of cases.
The national director of World Vision South Africa, Paula Barnard said: “The system is not protecting families in crisis which in turn means cases aren’t reported.
“Lack of social welfare support and interdepartmental cooperation means victims have nowhere to turn as their cases often fall through the cracks.
“It is imperative that South Africans can rely on our child protection system, and it starts with effective reporting and support.
“Cooperation between social services, police and NGOs must be exceptional and results driven,” said Barnard.
The lack of collaboration between social services and the South African Police Service (SAPS) has led to very low cross-referrals, meaning perpetrators are not brought to justice and children do not receive crucial therapeutic and support services - vital to their recovery and long-term well-being.
This follows World Vision’s recent call for violence against SA children to be declared a National Disaster.
Irish actor Liam Cunningham, who stars in Game of Thrones, in a video message urged the world to help put an end to violence against children.
“It seems like a really weird thing to be saying. Ending violence against children. But it is everybody’s responsibility that, if they see it and are aware of it, they should speak out against it.”
“There is an old saying that; ‘all that needs for evil to triumph is for good people to stay silent’. And that can be applied to violence against children in all its forms; be it physical violence, exploitation, sex trafficking and all those things.
"It takes a world to stop violence and everybody that is involved and aware needs to do whatever they can.”