Hon Speaker, South Africa is currently faced with significant challenges relating to sexual offences perpetrated against children.
The Constitution clearly stipulates in section 28(1)(d) that children have the right "to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation". The scourge of incidents of sexual violence perpetrated against children is clearly an indictment in relation to children's rights.
There appears to have been an escalation in the number of incidents reported in the media recently, such as that of the 17-year-old girl with a disability from Soweto, who was gang-raped. The issue of missing children also continues to be a problem in South Africa. As recently reported by the Sowetan, Danielle Camillia Gaysma, a nine-year-old girl from Eersterust near Mamelodi in Pretoria, went missing on Saturday afternoon and her body was subsequently found in the family's deep freeze by the police, leading to the arrest of her 48-year-old stepfather.
Despite the sound constitutional imperatives pertaining to children's rights and the legislation in place, these rights may not always be protected, fulfilled and/or promoted. We hope and plead that justice is done, and that the perpetrators face the full might of the law. I thank you. [Applause.]