Madam Speaker, the ID calls on all South African leaders to move quickly to eradicate the sexual abuse of our children by their elders and other children. I was shocked to read the Sunday Times story that showed that some of our children are continuing the cycle of sexual violence of older generations. This is an emergency that threatens to become a permanent stain on our national conscience.
As leaders, we have a constitutional mandate to ensure that our children are protected from all forms of abuse. Section 28(1)(d) of the Constitution states that every child has a right "To be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation".
Children are the only sector of the population that are entitled to second- generation human rights. This is not just a responsibility of government, but every single public representative who must teach their constituency to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Our communities must break the silence and report perpetrators, so that we can convincingly restore our dignity as a nation.
Minister Zola Skweyiya must be supported in his struggle to deliver on the constitutional rights of our children. We hope that he will be successful in his quest to extend the child grant to children up to 18 years, and we hope that Minster Manuel will agree to this. Thank you.