Minister Nokuzola Tolashe: Africa Children’s Summit opening ceremony

Programme Director; 
Gauteng Premier Mr Panyaza Lusufi 
Gauteng MEC for Social Development Ms Faith Mazibuko
Director-General of Social Development, Mr Peter Netshipale;
Chief Executive Officer of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo;
HODs from Provinces amongst us here
Senior Managers from the Department of Social Development both National and Provinces
Representatives from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund  
All the Children in this venue and online
Ladies and Gentlemen

Molweni,

It is my singular honour and pleasure to stand in front of Africa’s greatest asset and future, its children. Thank you for kindly affording me this opportunity to officially open this 2nd Biennial Africa Children’s Summit.

The Government of the Republic of South Africa, through the Department of Social Development takes great pride in co-hosting this landmark gathering in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF).

Let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the CEO, the board and management of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund for successfully bringing the 2nd Biennial Africa Children’s Summit to South Africa.

Programme Director, South Africa is the chair of the G20 and a series of activities for our Presidency of the G20 are at the advance stage. These activities will culminate into the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November this year.

As you might be aware, it is the very first time that an African country presides over the G20 as its president. South Africa seeks to use its G20 Presidency to bring the developmental priorities of the African Continent and the Global South more firmly into the agenda of the G20. As a sector, we thought there is no better way to do this and to honour Madiba’s life and legacy than to amplify the collective voice of Africa’s children under the theme: “Seen, Heard and Engaged in Education”.

It is worth mentioning that the South African government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly known as the CRC), the first legally binding international convention to confirm the human rights of all children across the globe.  The Convention on Rights of the Child is a human rights convention that sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. It was the first international convention that the newly-elected democratic government ratified on the 16th June 1996.

Five years later, on the 7th of January 2000, South Africa ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), a broad regional instrument that sets out rights for children in Africa, commonly known as the African Children’s Charter. Since ratifying both the Convention on Rights of the Child and the African Children’s Charter, and guided by our Constitution, especially Section 28 of the Bill of Rights, South Africa has focused on realising children’s rights and fulfilling our obligations.

Central to both the Convention on Rights of the Child and the African Children’s Charter is the principle that governments must always act in the best interests of the child and that every child has basic fundamental right. It is worth noting that world leaders have not kept to the undertakings committed to when ratifying these international legal documents. If we did, your topics for this forum would have been different.

The main objectives of this Summit are to promote child-centered dialogue and advocacy, empower children as agents of change, ensure inclusive and equitable participation, provide evidence-based policy recommendations, strengthen collaboration across sectors and regions on the continent, review and advance progress, and raise awareness and mobilise for national and regional action.

Child participation is a fundamental right of children through which their other rights can be realised. The obligations on society through the state to protect, respect and promote the right of children to participate in decisions that affect them are promoted by both the Charter on the Right of the Child and the African Children’s Charter. The child-led Summit, which aims to amplify the voices of children in policymaking and decision-making processes across the continent, is also aligned to the AU Agenda 2040, and the recent Bogotá 2024 Global Commitment to Ending Violence Against Children.

Following on the inaugural Summit held in Nairobi Kenya in 2023, the 2nd Biennial Africa Child Summit in South Africa is a landmark gathering aimed at championing child participation and shaping the future trajectory of the African continent with inputs from her children. This child-led Summit emphasises the importance of children’s agency under the saying: “NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US”.

This Summit must create a platform to agitate for accelerated action needed to realise the full enjoyment of the human rights and freedoms of all children on the African continent. Because it is led by you children, it gives you a collective voice to share your views, and hold African leaders and governments to account on key issues affecting you. These include democracy, emerging technologies and climate change, promoting inclusive education for all children, role of artificial intelligence in education, addressing school violence, gender-based violence and violence against children, amongst others.

The child-friendly programme will feature a dynamic and inclusive structure, that is designed to maximise engagement, encourage meaningful participation, and foster intergenerational dialogue. The structure includes a blend of plenaries, panels, workshops, exhibitions, and cultural events, with hybrid components to enhance accessibility.

According to the UNICEF’s Children’s report of November 2024,  high income countries in the world will count for a small share of Children by the year 2050 and Africa will be the one with a high number of Children. This then means that Africa will be able to gain on the demographic dividend, we have to ensure and encourage that these are led by you the Children wherein you amplify your voice as the future of this world and hold us in government, private sector and civil society all accountable. We must be held accountable by you to ensure that the policies and laws we enact are in line with what you will be adopting so as to guarantee the future you deserve.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we will not be able to achieve the above if the reality that children face in Africa are still the following:

Children in sub-Saharan Africa are at heightened risk in a rapidly changing world affected by extreme climate change crises, shifting population dynamics, and widening technological gaps. The challenges facing children in Africa are overwhelming. Millions lack access to quality education, are forced into child labour, live in conflict zones, or face early forced marriage and exploitation. Without a doubt, these are the problems facing Africa today. Illiteracy and the lack of quality education is the main reason why Africa wallows in poverty and in despair despite the abundance of both human and natural resources.

According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day in Africa due to poverty and around Sub-Saharan Africa, around 27 to 28 percent of all children are estimated to be underweight or stanting. So many kids die each day due to lack of basic sanitation, clean water, adequate shelter, and generally poor living conditions due to poverty. Millions of parents in Africa must cope daily with the fact that their offspring may not survive the first critical years of life, in many cases, the diseases that threaten their children’s lives are preventable.

Life as a Refugees: Of the 50 million refugees and displaced people in the world, approximately half are children. War is the primary factor in the creation of child refugees. It is also a principal cause of child death, injury, and loss of parents. In the last decade, war has killed more than 2 million children, wounded another 6 million, and orphaned about 1 million. Children also flee their homes because they fear various forms of abuse such as rape, sexual slavery, and child labour. Circumstances of birth also play a role in depriving children of a legal home.

Lack of Access to Education: A good education is important to improve the lives of African children. But due to lack of financial resources many children in Africa cannot afford to go to school. It is said that more than 100 million children do not have access to school and of the children who enrol in primary school, over 100 million drop out because of their parents inability to pay  school levies. Sad as it is, it is not all surprising  considering the fact that a large portion of the African population has people who live below the poverty line.

Child Abuse/Neglect: The prevalence of child abuse/neglect in Africa is widespread. Child abuse entails the physical, sexual and emotional mistreatment of a child that causes long-term or permanent damage. Neglect is an act of omission, or the absence of action, the consequences of which can be devastating to a child, as it leaves no visible marks and yet happens to be the most dangerous. Moreover, usually both involve  infants and very young children who cannot speak or defend themselves.

Lack of health care: Health outcomes in Africa are something that no one can be proud of. The lack of health care facilities has contributed immensely to child mortality.

Human Trafficking and Slavery: Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into slavery and also a very booming industry. It affects every continent. According to UNICEF, over two hundred thousand, children work as slaves in West and Central Africa. Boys are usually sold to work on cotton and cocoa plantations while girls are used as domestic servants and sex workers. In some cases, children are kidnapped outright and sold into slavery whilst other families sell their children, mostly girls, for as little as 14 dollars.

Child Labor: An estimated 211 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working around the world, and a huge chunk of them are in Africa. According to the International Labor Organization some of these children work full time to support their impoverished families.

My Children, the importance of the African Children’s Summit and the topical issues to be discussed here cannot be overemphasized. From shocking revelations currently emerging in the Joslin Smith’s case to the mind-numbing brutal rapes that children experience.

This act of sparing no effort to speedily ensure that the perpetrators of rape are brought to book to face the full might of the law is encouraging. As a country we need to ensure that we support and protect our children in all gender-based violence matters and violence against children. 

The sad reality we need to confront head-on, as shown year in and year out by the quarterly crime statistics all over the world, is that more and more children are likely to be abused at home and in the hands of someone they know—those who have a duty to care and protect them and that is why we welcomed the recent announcement by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to publicise the list of convicted gender-based violence perpetrators and names of sexual offenders contained in the National Register for Sex Offenders.

It is for this reason that on our part as Social Development, we intend to scale up prevention and early intervention such as RISIHA, which seeks to support community-based efforts to develop, enhance and coordinate initiatives and activities to prevent child abuse, neglect and exploitation. The focus is on strengthening families and communities as the first line of response in care and prevention. 

The key to these interventions is the need to promote child participation by listening, hearing and engaging the voices of our children, as per the recommendations of both the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child during the presentation of South Africa’s periodic report. 

One way in which we do this is through the annual Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, a collaborative effort between the Department of Social Development, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Save the Children SA, the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures. 

As I conclude, I want to express my appreciation to the Local Organising Committee for working around the clock to ensure that our government in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Foundation can and is hosting this important gathering of Africa’s children on South African soil. 

We believe that the 2nd Biennial Africa Children’s Summit will complement ongoing national and regional efforts to leverage the momentum of the Nairobi Summit and accelerate the implementation of the ‘’Africa We Want’’ and the 2030 Agenda to ensure that we leave no child behind. 

We look forward to receiving the outcomes of this summit from you, as we continue in our collective efforts to build a better Africa and a better world fit for all children. I wish you my children the best in your deliberations.

I thank you all for your attention.