Over 17,000 cases of child abuse and neglect have been reported by the state since February, with Western Cape having the highest number of cases.
This was revealed by “The State of the South African Child” report, which was released yesterday.
The report, which was conducted by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in partnership with Deloitte Africa, focused on the challenges that children in SA experience.
According to its findings, SA has high levels of violence against children (VAC).
“VAC occurs in numerous settings ranging from the home, schools, workplaces, communities, to via the internet in the form of cyber-bullying or online sexual abuse. Children are exposed to different forms of violence right through their childhood and even before birth through their mothers, through scenarios like intimate partner violence,” the report stated.
Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund CEO, Linda Ncube-Nkomo, said the numbers reflect a small portion of the challenges experienced by children in the country.
“The numbers in this report are dire to hear but these are the figures that are reported by people or the state and calculated ,we know there’s more beyond the numbers, not every case is reported or talked about, and those real numbers are really devastating to think about,” said Ncube-Nkomo.
Sky-high number of reported child abuse cases only the tip of the iceberg
Not every case is reported or talked about
Over 17,000 cases of child abuse and neglect have been reported by the state since February, with Western Cape having the highest number of cases.
This was revealed by “The State of the South African Child” report, which was released yesterday.
The report, which was conducted by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in partnership with Deloitte Africa, focused on the challenges that children in SA experience.
According to its findings, SA has high levels of violence against children (VAC).
“VAC occurs in numerous settings ranging from the home, schools, workplaces, communities, to via the internet in the form of cyber-bullying or online sexual abuse. Children are exposed to different forms of violence right through their childhood and even before birth through their mothers, through scenarios like intimate partner violence,” the report stated.
Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund CEO, Linda Ncube-Nkomo, said the numbers reflect a small portion of the challenges experienced by children in the country.
“The numbers in this report are dire to hear but these are the figures that are reported by people or the state and calculated ,we know there’s more beyond the numbers, not every case is reported or talked about, and those real numbers are really devastating to think about,” said Ncube-Nkomo.