DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development, Refiloe Ntšekhe MPL
As South Africa commemorates Child Protection Week 2026 under the constitutional principles of Family and Care, Basic Needs, Protection and Development, the Gauteng Department of Social Development's (GDSD) own Fourth Quarter Performance Report for the 2025/26 financial year reveals a deeply concerning reality. While the department spent 99% of its R5.6 billion budget, many services intended to protect vulnerable children remained unstable, delayed, underfunded, or failed to meet their intended outcomes.
Child Protection Week is not merely about awareness campaigns. It is about asking whether the government is genuinely fulfilling its constitutional obligations to children. The department's own performance and financial information suggest that too many children continue to face barriers to the rights this week seeks to promote.
While the department reports progress in family preservation and parenting programmes, its performance in key child protection services reveals persistent systemic weaknesses. Family reunification services continue to be delayed by lengthy assessments and administrative bottlenecks. Homelessness interventions remained unstable throughout the year because of governance failures, operational disruptions, and a lack of support for non-profit organisations (NPOs).
