POTCHEFSTROOM, North West — In a show of collective commitment to child safety, the Nal’ibali Organization led a procession of community members, safety stakeholders, and police representatives to the Potchefstroom Police Station in the North West Province. Participants signed a formal pledge affirming their dedication to upholding children’s rights and protecting them from harm.
The march formed part of South Africa’s annual Child Protection Week, observed under the national theme “Working together in ending violence against children.” As part of its outreach, the organization also visited Potchefstroom Central School to engage learners on the importance of child protection.
Statistics South Africa reports that more than one million learners have experienced some form of violence within school environments. While data indicates a 10% reduction in corporal punishment among learners aged five and older between 2009 and 2024, officials caution that this improvement is not universal across all learning institutions.
Prudence Erens, Programmes Manager for the Nal’ibali Organization, outlined the group’s advocacy approach: “We took it upon ourselves to utilize this week as well to say this is our advocacy work to make people aware about the importance of safeguarding for children, the importance of maintaining safe spaces for children. We have together with community safety within Potchefstroom together with the SAPS… took up this pledge to say let’s all come together in unity show what our stance is when it comes to the safety, the safeguarding of our children.”
To make protection messages accessible to young audiences, educators employed creative methods including storytelling, songs, and visual illustrations. Erens emphasized the effectiveness of these tools: “Storytelling is an art… because of how our children respond when they hear stories and how they learn through storytelling. I think that’s the first form of engagement to teach them about how to keep themselves safe, how to speak up, what are the signs to look out for… Even in the songs, we hear how children adapt to songs and learn them so quickly. And I think that’s another form of engagement that we can use.”
Anna Fourie, ECD Regional Chair, addressed persistent concerns within early childhood development settings. “Children being beaten and abused at centers. We can’t run away from that. It does happen at our centers that sometimes you hear that at an ECD center a child was really abused… had to be taken to the clinic,” she said.
Fourie also highlighted a critical misconception among children regarding law enforcement: “We encourage parents and adults, people in the community not to scare children. When they see the police, they have to run away because they have to know that the police is their safety. Now if children see police uniform or a van already they run away… if a child is doing something wrong the first thing an adult will say or a parent is [to call the police].”
Parents attending the event voiced strong calls for expanded government support. One caregiver stressed the need for improved infrastructure: “We really love our grandchildren and we want to see them very safe. High mast lights in every township with cameras of course and that’s another thing for job creation but our little ones oh they are very close to our hearts.”
Another parent emphasized prevention through education: “They should teach children about the dangers of this world and how to watch for perpetrators to stay away from people who could harm them. Most perpetrators are not strangers, it’s people who are close to them.”
A third caregiver linked early neglect to later risks: “I think we should start to protect our kids from this from childhood, because when they grow up and as teenagers is where they started to use drugs because we neglected them from the childhood.”
The Nal’ibali Organization confirmed that Child Protection Week activities are being held nationwide, with the goal of building a unified front against violence targeting children and fostering environments where every child can thrive safely.