National executive officer for Childline Dumisile Nala says child abuse is still very prevalent in South Africa — despite the ruling that beating children, even in a home setting, is classified as assault.
"Child abuse is very prevalent, because we are looking at different forms of abuse — we are looking at sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse and psychological abuse," she said
"You know that corporal punishment is not allowed in schools. We are similarly very clear that corporal punishment at home is not acceptable as well. Yet children still call Childline and report cases of physical abuse both within the home and at school," she said.
According to Nala there is "no safe space" for children, because they could be abused anywhere.
"[Children] experience abuse at home and schools in their communities. It is not a good reflection on us as a society, and how we are looking [after] our children right now. That is quite alarming. We live in a country which is very violent. Somehow violence seems to be the norm in our country."
Nala says in most sexual abuse cases, children are targeted by people who they know, and suggests that the high rate of abuse could be attributed to the enormous stress levels suffered by parents.
"Families are under a lot of stress in terms of economic and financial situations. We know that issues of drugs and alcohol, they [also] play a part in terms of children being abused and violated," Nala elaborated.
"In general if one can reduce the amount of stress that parents are experiencing, that could help a lot."
Sonke Gender Justice portfolio manager for child rights and positive parenting, Wessel van den Berg, agrees that stress is one of the major contributors, especially when it comes to abuse in the home.
"At a household level I think parents go through an incredible amount of stress in feeding, clothing and caring for a child. We must think in the context of poverty and marginalisation," he said.
"In general if one can reduce the amount of stress that parents are experiencing, that could help a lot," Van den Berg added.
He says the issue of distant, or sometimes non-existent, father figures is key.
"We need to get fathers more involved in childcare, so that there are more caregivers around in a household ... When there are two parents around there, is more caregiving."
Sonke Gender Justice is lobbying for policy to be implemented by government to end the scourge of violence against both women and children.
"We have been working as a part of a coalition to come up with the framework for a national strategic plan to end gender-based violence and violence against children. This has been an ongoing campaign for the past few years. It's a call for a national strategic plan on violence," Van den Berg said.
"We now see the department of social development is giving consultations on a programme of action to end violence against women and children.
"The same way South Africa is working on HIV treatment, they need a national plan to deal with gender-based violence."
The statistics according to Childline
This week South Africans are observing Child Protection Week under the theme "Let us all protect children moving South Africa forward".
According to Childline, they received more than 300,000 calls in the 2017/2018 year, and close to 40 percent of those calls were about emotional abuse.
