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By Lungile Ntimba
The Economic Freedom Fighters has called for an inquest into child rapes and sexual assaults in the Basic Education sector.
The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) recently confirmed that 111 sexual misconduct cases were reported in the 2024/25 financial year.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo raised concern about the alarming rates of violence that children were exposed to in institutions meant to keep them safe.
He said that despite these concerning statistics, the department has failed to implement effective interventions to address this issue.
“For many years, the safety of children in our schools has been compromised with little to no intervention from the government of the day with the intention to make our schools a safe refuge for children,” said Thambo.
“This is particularly disheartening because schools are meant to be safe spaces, however, this is not the reality in the South African context.”
Last year, the EFF presented a motion in the National Assembly that highlighted the crisis of statutory rape, where young girls are forced into motherhood and adulthood prematurely.
It further mandated the portfolio committees of social development, education, health, justice and police to confer with each other on the development of a joint public participation programme to receive submissions on this matter.
Legislation was meant to be reviewed and amendments recommended to enforce mandatory reporting of statutory rape by teachers and nurses; with the committees scheduled to report to Parliament by the end of March.
But Thambo said no report has been received so far, leaving children vulnerable to violence within the school premises.
“This once again exposes Parliament as not exercising its responsibilities with regard to agreements reached and this is to the detriment of the people of South Africa,” he said in a statement.
He said the Commission for Gender Equality had recommended automatic investigations once child pregnancies were reported in schools, which had also not been implemented.
The EFF called for a full vetting system to be put in place to vet all personnel linked to basic education, including early childhood development centres.
“The vetting should encompass all personnel with direct and indirect links to our children, varying from transport drivers to staff at the Department of Basic Education branches across the country,” Thambo added.
“It should not be normalised that there are people with access to children who might be in the want or have matches to DNA samples of perpetrators.”
The EFF further urged the department to strengthen security measures in schools and psychosocial support by employing fulltime social workers.
Thambo said stricter oversight methods must be implemented by the department to ensure the safety of children on school premises.
INSIDE EDUCATION
