Children Count
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- The 2006 estimate is that there are 3,817,000 in KwaZulu Natal – 21% of the country’s children
- 26% are orphaned, 16% of whom are paternal orphans
- 70% are living in income poverty, 17% live in households with child hunger, 29% live in overcrowding
- 37,000 children live in child-headed households
- 3.2% are HIV positive, antenatal prevalence is 39%
- 15,209 children died of AIDS-related causes in 2006 – the highest of all province
- Child and infant mortality has increased. In 2005, of every 1000 children born, 115 would not make it past their 5th birthday – 11.5%. In 2001 that figure was 68 – 6.8%.
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Reported crimes committed against children 2007/2008
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The following is a breakdown of the number of crimes committed against children in South Africa per day:
- 3.9 child murders / 4 attempted murders
- 44 rapes / 9.6 indecent assaults
- 53.9 assaults with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm / 59.6 common assaults 175 serious, reported crimes committed against children per day – 7 per hour.
- Studies indicate that only 5% to 10% of such cases are reported, which means the figure could be anywhere between 70 and 140 / hour.
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Crimes committed by children
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- There seems to be an increase of violent behaviour in children, with an increase being most noted in female children. Schools are increasingly becoming the platform where children perpetrate violence against other children.
- Children and young people constitute a major sector of the country’s population, with the 2001 census indicating that some 26% of the country’s population is 24 years or younger. In addition, research indicates that the ages between 12 and 21 are the peak years for both offending and victimisation. Therefore, if one considers that the 12–21 year age group is the most likely to be involved in crime, it is clear that a large proportion of South Africa’s population falls within this ‘high risk’ age cohort. Indeed, the number of young people in South Africa indicates that they are likely to be disproportionately perpetrators and victims of crime. As such, the cost to government and to society of not adequately addressing youth offending is significant and the issue should be given the requisite attention.
- Of the 115325 individuals currently incarcerated in correctional facilities, 30% are between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. 867 are below the ages of 18 years old.
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Children and HIV
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Orphanhood
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Earlier sexual debut is significantly associated with increased risk of HIV infection. Orphanhood, which increases as a result of deaths of parents from AIDS, has been found to increase the likelihood of earlier sexual debut.
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Poverty & transactional sex
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An alarming trend has been the use of children in transactional sex to secure income for households. Wealthier community members support families materially in exchange for sex with children within the household. Children also use transactional sex for their own material gain.
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The child support grant
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Although contentious, there is some evidence to suggest that people are intentionally conceiving children to access child support grants. Such individuals do not practice safe sex and there are MTCT implications.
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HIV prevalence
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2006 mid-term statistics indicate that, during the course of the year, 38,000 children where born HIV+ and 26,000 were infected by breastfeeding. 294,000 children under the age of 14 years were HIV positive at the time of the study.
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Defining a “child focus”
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In TAI’s context, not all programmes should include children as direct beneficiaries, but should rather include aspects that assist community groups in addressing the issues that make children so terribly vulnerable. If are goal are an organisation is long term change and community well-being then we need to start addressing the needs of the most vulnerable group in South Africa. The evidence presented here clearly indicates that the current crisis facing our children has severe implications for the future of this country.
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