Speech delivered by the MEC for Health and Welfaee Mr. Seaparo Sekoati during the Christmas Party for children Thohoyandou Children's Homes

09 December 2004

Programme Director
The First Lady
Our Sponsors
Honoured guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I want to thank all of you for being here to celebrate with our children festive season.

Indeed we have many things to celebrate during this festive season.

Our democracy, born under extremely difficult circumstances has showed its resilience.

Its parliamentary, executive, judicial and civil society systems are showing strengths and the ability to withstand the tests of debates and disagreements.

Despite the huge potential for discord and strife, we have withstood pressures that have torn other communities apart.

These are among the most visible achievements of the ten years of democracy.

• Free health services for children and pregnant women resulting in many of those who could not do so before access the services. This has resulted in the improvement of mortalities.
• Child support grant, leading to better care to hundreds of thousands of children who would otherwise sleep hungry.
• Establishment of Victim Empowerment Centres for multi- disciplinary assistance and support of those who fall prey.
• Establishment of Children’s homes, places of safety and secure care to look after children in distress.

However, this does not mean that we should underestimate the challenges we face, while at the same time exercising caution not to sink into despair.

We must be realistic about what needs to be done and not seek out the worst attributes and in the process disparage the good we have achieved.

On the 25 of November, also known as White Ribbon day, our country joined the rest of the world to mark the 16 days of activism to end violence against women and children.

This campaign will end on the 10th (tomorrow), which is the International Human Rights Day.

During this period we raise awareness of and prevented all forms of violence against women and children.

Our province, together with the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces have been declared violence-prone province directed against women and children.

Particularly in Vhembe, Mopani and Capricorn districts the statistics are high, and urgent intervention is needed.

In order to respond to these situations we conducted house-to-house visits in Vhembe (Tshapasha village) and Mopani (Mangweni village) districts, reaching people directly, showing them that freedom also mean freedom of women and children from violence and abuse.

Our experiences continue to demonstrate that government interventions alone are not enough to reduce the levels of violence against women and children.

It is within this context, that during the 16 days NGO’s, the private sector faith – based organisations, government, business and other role players bonded together to encourage a greater awareness of the many forms of women and child abuse that dent the image of our country and its democracy.

The celebration that we are having today is a continuation of the campaign to end violence against women and children.

We use this occasion to remind ourselves that the promotion and protection of the rights of children is an important and an integral part of our programme for reconstruction and development.

It is therefore important that we reaffirm and confirm the centrality of children in all our programmes through which we are working for a better life for all.

Tomorrow we celebrate the International Human Rights Day.

We will use the platform to dispel and resent all the unconstructive criticisms we get about how our constitution protects offenders rather than victims.

This criticism is a reflection of the enornimity of work that we still need to do to come to grips with the principle of human rights for all.

The social justice imperatives of our constitution presuppose a victim-centred approach to legal and court processes.

We will continue to support the work done by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure that the sexual offences Courts and the Children’s Courts are strengthened to deal with cases of women and child abuse.

At the same time we will do all that we can to ensure that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development finalise the Victim’s Charter, which is expected to give additional support to victims of crime.

We are also looking forward to the promulgation of the Children’s Bill and hope that this piece of legislation will enhance our interventions to build a better life for children.

The success of the previous campaigns and interventions have been attributed to the formation of strategic partnerships, all united by a common goal to eradicate the abuse of women and children.

A great number of all these partners are here today. These are the people who gave unsparingly their valuable time, experience and resources to ensure that our children enjoy this festive season like others who are with their parents and next of kin.

You have given without asking for publicity or seeking anything in return.

We must together continue to display an attitude of caring and love for our children.

We must do this with integrity and out of genuine concern for the most vulnerable sector of our society – our children.

We must thank all those who made this event a memorable and a successful one.

We wish all our children a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Thank you.

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